Now What Do I Do? (10/18/07)
Do you ever get in a situation where you don’t know how to respond, or what you should do next? I’m sure everyone has a few of these situations, but I seem to have more than a few. The most recent experience like this happened at a near-by medical office...

Stockton native relases new book (10/05/07)
Peter Nichols, who lives in Stockton, Mo., and is Past-President and present Board Member of the Missouri Folklore Society and active in the El Dorado Springs writers group, has written an unusual book. "Let the Faces Speak" is a pictorial directory of the residents of a fictitious county in Missouri from 1860-1910, Bear County is in west central Missouri where, "the Ozarks meet the prairie. It is a land of rolling hills covered with oak-hickory forests and prairies of tall grasses."...

A 1914 letter from Sidney A. Weltmer (10/05/07)
Lyndon Irwin, from Springfield (originally from Bronaugh) has shared information on his Web page about a recent discovery of a letter written by Sidney A. Weltmer in 1914. Floyd Harlow Lawrence discovered this letter which his grandmother, Lucretia Harlow, had in her possessions. ...

Questions we don't ask, but want to know, about death (10/05/07)
To prepare for this article (and one to follow in two weeks) we asked Ferry's Funeral Home and the Evergreen Memorial Chapel 25 questions we would like to get answered. They were both very generous with their time and gave detailed answers to each question. We are compiling the answers whenever possible, without identifying which establishment gave which answer. We are indebted to each business for their help...

Yellow is beautiful (10/04/07)
I grew up thinking that yellow was a rather ordinary color and not one to be admired very much. My father used to tease me by calling our beautiful Red Persian cat an ordinary "yellar" Cedar County tomcat. Then there was the movie about a dog called "Old Yellar."...

A world of miracles (09/27/07)
I have almost become used to using a restroom washbasin where the water starts without my turning a faucet and where the stool takes care of it's own problems without my assistance. But some of the "advances" I encountered on a trip last week continue to amaze me...

A moving experience (07/19/07)
The television and newspapers have recently had many programs about childhood obesity. Each article or episode gave suggestions for keeping your children active. The emphasis was on action and movement. Some parents had hired trainers for very young children to keep them in shape...

Relatively wordy (07/12/07)
When you grow up with and live with a family of English majors with a sense of humor much of your e- mail has a grammatical flavor. My niece, who had an English major before she became a veterinarian, had this problem recently. She said that she had bought a Weedeater recently and as soon as she got home from work she was going to use the tool. ...

Unfounded fears (06/28/07)
When I was a child I could find a lot of things to be afraid of. In the summer I was afraid to go around to the west side of the house to wash my feet in the outside basin at bedtime because the family was all sitting outside on the east side of the house. ...

Memories of Bushwhacker Days (06/21/07)
I didn't really want to go. I have attended many years. Sometimes I was even staffing a booth or responsible for seeing that it was staffed. One memorable time (1994) I even rode on the back of the back seat of a convertible as the Grand Marshal. Another time I rode in a horse drawn carriage advertising the Neighbor's Center. ...

I'm an Old Fogey, (06/14/07)
I have been hearing about all the wonders of the electronic age and have to agree with some of the advantages. I love e-mail and I also like the comfort of writing my articles and columns at home and sending them to the newspaper while I am still in my jammies and slippers. ...

The times keep changing (06/07/07)
It doesn't seem so long ago that I first joined American Association of University Women. I was a young mother with our first son, living in Stockton, Mo. I didn't know anybody and we hadn't joined a church yet, so I was mostly homebound with the baby. ...

A step in the right direction (05/31/07)
My birthday, our anniversary, Mother's Day and Father's Day all come very close together so May and June are almost like Christmas for us. In fact they are better, gift-wise, since the gifts are coming in instead of going out. However we have reached the age where we don't really NEED anything and don't have room for very much more, so our family members try to be creative in their gifts to us and combine several of the events into one gift. We appreciate that very much...

Is it rainy enough for you? (05/17/07)
No matter what the weather is, someone will greet you with the question, "Is it hot/cold/wet/dry enough for you?" I have never known how to respond to that question. Obviously it is too hot/cold/wet/dry or the question wouldn't be asked. However, the question does make me pause to think. ...

My annual goose story (05/10/07)
In response to an overwhelming number of requests to let my readers know what has happened in our goosey world, I will give the 2007 version of "Goose, Goose, Duck." I hope she will appreciate it. A pair of geese staked out our pond early in the season and drove away any pretenders to the nest for a month or so before the goose took up daily residence. ...

My toys are over the hill (05/03/07)
The generation gap is rearing its head in our household these days. It's not that we disagree on what is proper or fun. We just don't speak the same language. For example: I have heard about IPods for several years, but I still don't know exactly what they look like, and certainly don't know how to use one. I realize that they are designed to put a lot of stuff on one little contraption so that you don't have to carry that cumbersome little tape player...

The drug problem (04/26/07)
My mother never believed in taking any medicine. She used the traditional Vicks or Camphorated Oil on our chests when we had a cold. She would also fix a salt and soda concoction to gargle if we had a sore throat. If we got a cut or scrape we could expect iodine unless we talked her into only using mercurochrome. Our medicine chest was rather bare except for those standbys. We didn't get sick very often, and thankfully none of us had anything very seriously wrong with us...

Laughter is Important (04/19/07)
How do you keep a sense of humor if you ever watch the news programs? The recent weeks have been so full of tragedies that it is hard to find any humor in anything. College shootings, weather catastrophes, the news from Iraq, the political atmosphere, and local personal deaths and loses seem to emphasize that life is grim and that nothing is funny anymore. That is the time when it is most important to "look on the sunny side of life."...

Spring has sprung (04/05/07)
April is a month of excitement and appreciation. I'll admit that it doesn't take as much to get me excited these days as it did a few years back. But if you go even further back to the prehistoric times of my life when I was quite young, almost anything could get me excited...

Now hear this! (03/22/07)
In some gatherings the group is happy to have any decisions made with only a voice vote. The person in charge can determine the intention of the group by the oral response and partially by the enthusiasm with which that response is given. I have been in groups where I was not in accord with the majority of the people concerned. ...

Has our grammar went missing? (03/08/07)
I was blessed by being born into a family who used reasonably correct English. In school I didn't have to unlearn poor usage. I just grew up with good usage. There were a few glaring exceptions. I still have trouble with saying "Lester and me" when we are the objects of a verb. An example is my tendency to say, "They invited Lester and I over for supper." I don't worry about it too much as long as we get to eat...

A Week That Was (03/01/07)
When Lester was in seminary training for the ministry, one of the professors had this advice. Preach about what happened to you this week. I am taking that advice. Last week I drove, uneventfully, over to the YMCA of the Ozarks to lead a class in the Elderhostel called "On the Bright Side." I had a wonderful class and they liked my games and humor so we got along well. My sister was with me and she also had a couple of hours on Ozark heritage...

Washington or Lincoln? (02/22/07)
When people mention great presidents of the past the names of Washington and Lincoln always come up. Sometimes this causes a discussion about which of those two was the best president. Many people feel more kinship with Lincoln because of his background. ...

Always an Indian, never a chief (02/15/07)
The community of Nevada has lost a strong supporter. When Nelle Hillier became ill recently and died last week everyone kept commenting on how badly she would be missed. In her neighborhood, her church, around Nevada, in her home community of Avola, in PEO, Meals on Wheels, at the Bushwhacker Museum, Habitat for Humanity and on and on, the constant refrain was, "We could always depend on her to help." This sense of loss might be hard for an outsider to understand because Nelle never took positions of leadership. ...

Heartaches (02/08/07)
We have learned a lot about hearts this past year. As we head toward Valentine's Day, there is a lot of emphasis on hearts. But many of the events connected with this special day are far from the events a family experiences when one of their members undergoes heart surgery...

I've got a little list (01/25/07)
In the movie, "Sound of Music" Julie Andrews sings to the children about her favorite things. Included in this list are things such as raindrops, warm fuzzy mittens, kittens, and other comforting things. I like the song and try to use its philosophy when things go bad for me. But lately I find myself making a different kind of lint. My list has some of my UNfavorite things on it...

Did someone say global warming? (01/18/07)
Those of us who have lived through this last week are not too concerned right now about global warming. It's funny how our memories get mixed when we think back to former cold spells and dry spells. Each generation has its own version of the most terrible winter or summer, but when we are in the middle of an unusual cold snap we tend to think back to all those earlier freezes...

Picture this (01/04/07)
An ophthalmologist suggested to us years ago that our daughter, Shirley, would benefit from working jigsaw puzzles. She became very good at it and we started a Christmas tradition of giving her a puzzle each year. They began as large pieces of colorful cartoon characters or animals. Through the years we have progressed to a 1,000-piece puzzle of a black cat against a black background or an even larger one of toys in a toy shop shelf...

Christmas in a small town (12/21/06)
Nevada is not a very small town, but every time I hear the song about Christmas in a small town, I think of our own Nevada. Having a young teenager with us these days causes us to participate more than we might if it was just the two of us. But this year there have been so many great things to enjoy in our town; most of them entirely free or very inexpensive, that I think Nevada can compete for honors with any small town anywhere...

Christmas cards and letters have hidden problems (12/14/06)
I have enjoyed each Christmas card and each Christmas letter I have received every year. It is great to hear from friends and relatives we don't see too often. It is also nice to be remembered by those we see quite often. But there is a downside to the practice for me...

Let it snow? (12/07/06)
Are you tired of hearing everyone's horror stories about what happened to them during this big snow? I am still enjoying them for two reasons. First, I know that when they finish I can tell my story and it will beat theirs. Second, we needed the moisture so badly and the snow does such good things for the winter wheat and the soil that our inconvenience doesn't really matter. ...

When do we eat? (11/30/06)
Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks? In the last six months we have changed our daily schedules several times. First, following Lester's heart surgery we were on the schedule of cardiac rehab three days a week for an hour. The first few weeks I went with him and used the machines that weren't busy while he was being monitored. ...

Garfield can teach us a thing or two (11/16/06)
Garfield is the cat in the comic strips as well as many other places. I didn't like him too well at first, because I am a cat lover and Garfield does not have the traits that I admire in a cat. Well, he does have independence. And he can certainly take care of himself. But he doesn't seem very cuddly, even though you can buy a stuffed version of him that could be cuddled...

Keeping on the Straight and Narrow (11/09/06)
The new pavement on Highway 54 west of Nevada has a new gimmick for that road. When I am driving to town and look over to see what the Sloans are doing, if my car follows my gaze a bit, I get a wake-up call from a rattle beneath my tires. Many highways have this feature, but it was new to this section of 54. When you think you know every bump, crack or blemish on a familiar road it can be surprising when something new is added...

Bleacher Blues (11/02/06)
As I watched the crowded stadium of red garbed folk at the Chiefs game last Sunday, I began to have a backache as I remembered all the hours I have spent sitting in bleachers somewhere. My high school years were during World War II and in Washington, D.C., there was a perpetual brownout so that school activities were limited to afternoon hours. ...

It's a sweet task (10/26/06)
I am sucking on a jellybean as I write this column. I know that I don't need the sugar. I know that I am already overweight. But I bought a sack of the enticing little ovals yesterday at the store and they won't leave me alone. One reason I bought them was that they are not in season. ...

Did you wash your hands? (10/19/06)
Every magazine and newspaper lately has carried an article on the best way to prevent catching the flu. In addition to eating healthy foods, exercising and getting enough rest, each message says to wash your hands often. That seems simple enough. We have all been taught to wash our hands since we were small children...

Welcome to autumn in Missouri (10/12/06)
What are you wearing today? One day I wear my stay-at-home shorts, the next day I dig out my corduroy slacks and a sweatshirt. I go to church wearing a suit and am rather chilly. When I leave the building about two hours later I am dressed too warmly. ...

Don't fall through the cracks (10/05/06)
Life is full of places we can't get to when we want to. It is also full of places we get into when we really aren't planning that way. But today I am most concerned with the little spaces that mess up our lives. I am referring to such spaces as the crack between the washer and the dryer, or between the cabinet and the floor...

Would you like to see what I found? (09/28/06)
People are good things to have around you. It's hard to realize what life might be like if we couldn't live in a community of people. Now I don't mean like a commune or something, but just neighbors and friends, co-workers and church members, people who belong to the same organizations and those you meet professionally, all of these people make life interesting, worthwhile and fun. But some of my favorite people these days are those who read my stuff...

SO? (09/14/06)
I am getting so tired of hearing "so" used so many ways that I am so tempted to do something so unlike me that you will know that I am so out of it that you should be concerned about me. I have mentioned this to a certain teenager so many times but I always get the same response. So? It bothers me so much that so many people can't even be bothered to put the what on the end of it. They mean "so what." But they just say, "So."...

Getting a cure for a big head (09/07/06)
Have you ever noticed how life has a way of taking the wind out of your sails just when you think you are sailing along great? If something didn't come along once in a while to knock us down to size, we would probably all be insufferable very quickly...

Memories Change With Our Age (08/31/06)
I received one of those funny e-mails today asking if I remembered certain things in the past. Some of the things they mentioned were McDonald's hamburgers at 25 cents, ice trays with levers to release the ice cubes, gasoline at 35 cents a gallon, and ugly gym clothes for girls...

Pleasant evenings can go astray (08/24/06)
We often hear the phrase "Thank goodness it's Friday!" This indicates that the pressures of the workweek are behind us and we have the weekend to laze around or do some cherished activity. Have you discovered that it doesn't always work that way? A comic strip that appeared this weekend showed parents waking up on Monday saying, "Thank goodness it's Monday."...

Nursing takes skill (08/17/06)
My mother was not a very good nurse. She tried to ignore any illness we had up until it was impossible to do so. She was full of advice like, "You' ll feel better in the morning" or, "Go lie on your stomach for awhile and it will pass." It usually did...

It's a small world, even in Joplin (08/10/06)
Remember how your mother always told you to dress up nicely when you went anywhere because you might run into someone important to you? Well, I don't know how well dressed I was after an unexpected visit to both the Nevada Regional Medical Center's Emergency Room and the St. John's Emergency room last Saturday night, but I have become a believer in the phrase...

Thank you so much (08/03/06)
Where do I begin? We are so appreciative of all our friends and family who have been concerned about us these last few weeks that we can't begin to say personal thanks to each one. And I even got four get-well cards from my tongue-in-cheek column last week about my poor cut finger! (By the way, it is doing fine and I am again typing with all 10 fingers.) We have lived in many different communities in our 60 years of marriage...

It's The Little Things (07/27/06)
If you find any errors in this essay, don't blame me for being a poor typist. Blame the cat food company. Since I am staying at home with Lester through this early part of his recuperation from heart surgery, other family members are doing the grocery shopping for me. Our poor cats have been somewhat neglected through this period of changing schedules and long absences, so I wanted to be sure they got fed well...

July begins with a bang (07/13/06)
Life has a way of piling things up on you when you least expect it. In the last week and a half, our family has had multiple events of significance. July began with the celebration of the wedding of our grandson, Michael to Jessica Cannon. They got married in Northwoods Wedding Chapel with hubby Lester performing the ceremony. The small, lovely wedding was followed by a large, fun-filled reception at the Jay Bar H Ranch with friends and family sharing excitement with the couple...

Coming Home (07/06/06)
I have often wondered what it would be like to be an only child. I couldn't imagine a childhood without a ready-made group of playmates, mentors and critics. I am sure that those who were only children couldn't imagine what life would have been like in a family as large as ours. ...

Taking the wrong road (06/29/06)
There are not many highways in western Missouri that I am not familiar with. Since we have lived in ten different towns or cities in the western part of the state, and traveled often to many other locations in that area, I can usually get wherever I want to go without even referring to the map...

'Make new friends but keep the old' (04/27/06)
Last week was a special time for me. Within three days I had two of the best experiences that middle age plus persons can have. I had the pleasure of being with a group of my long-time friends and acquaintances and I became a friend of a group of women that I had never met before. ...

Things can really get messed up (04/20/06)
The electronic age has wonders for us all. We can send instant messages all around the world and be in touch with family members several times a day with ease. We can cell phone each other from one car to another, from one end of the country to another, or just across the hall...

I shot an error into the press (04/13/06)
Do you ever make mistakes? I'll have to admit that I have once or twice. In fact, it might even have been more than that number. But what bothers me most is when I make a mistake in print right in front of both of my readers. One of them told me about a mistake I made several weeks ago. I was talking about our pride in Gordon Parks and his movie that was filmed in Fort Scott...

April, bring your showers (04/06/06)
I like to associate important things in my life with songs. As I turned over the calendars from March to April, I began remembering the booming voice of Al Jolson singing about April showers. "When April showers come your way, they bring the flowers that bloom in May." Then later in the song there are the words, "so just keeping looking for the bluebird and listening for his song, whenever April showers come along." The meaning of the words are that showers are unwelcome and we must not fret about them because they will pass.. ...

A synonym for patience is endurance (03/30/06)
In several of the old romantic novels I used to love, the heroine (I think they now call it the protagonist) was named Patience. I used to think that was a romantic name for a girl. I could envision her mother calling to her, "Come here, Patience, I have something for you." Somewhere along the way, the appeal of that name has left me. Maybe it is because the characteristic that the name implies has also left me...

Welcome home (03/23/06)
Each year in the very early spring we begin to wonder if our goose and gander will return to nest in our front yard pond again. During the winter we see various small and large groups of geese spending a day or a few hours on our pond or flying over it to the bigger pond in the next field. ...

Creating Diversity for Our Children (03/16/06)
The children who are growing up in Vernon County have a handicap that some of us hadn't realized in earlier days. They grow up with very few friends of different races or ethnic origins. When I was a child I only saw one or two African American men in Nevada. They were at the barber shop and at Richardson's filling station. (Now, that is a word we don't use very often anymore -- a filling station. I guess that preceded the word service station...

Come On In (03/09/06)
When you live in the country every door is the back door. No matter how attractive you try to keep the entrances to the house, there is always the need for something to be piled, stacked, placed or maybe just thrown outside the door. In our home we have the wood for the wood burning stove we use in real cold weather outside the door that leads to the deck. Of course that is logical because it is the door closest to the stove in the View Room...

Have you heard the turtle dove? (03/02/06)
This morning I heard the song of the turtle dove or the mourning dove, whichever name you call this welcome bird of spring. Nothing can give me peace quicker than hearing this coo-oo, coo, coo, coo sound echoing across the fields. I become a small child again, waking up to a warm morning with many promises for the day. I feel that all is right with the world when this little bird joins us with its song...

This should turn you on (02/23/06)
Last night I went to sleep on my back. That is not a good idea. (Ask my husband about that!) I tend to sleep with my mouth open when I sleep on my back. In addition to waking up with a dry mouth, I may even snore a little. I don't believe that because I have never heard it, but I have been told that it is true. But this morning I woke up lying on my left side. I stretched and then turned to the right side to relax a few more moments...

School fashions change (02/16/06)
I have spent many minutes parked in front of the Middle School waiting to pick up our great-granddaughter at the end of the after-school program. I try to get there early so I can park in view of the door so that she can spot me easily. This gives me a good view of each of the young people as they come out the door. Each day my mind goes back quite a few years to the days when I was in Junior High School...

Too much privacy? (02/09/06)
Are you getting tired of all the emphasis on privacy? Each month we get some statement in the mail from some organization giving us their privacy policy. These legal documents tell me that I do not need to be concerned about them giving away any of my secrets. That is good except I don't think I have any secres that would interest anyone else...

Groundhog Day (02/02/06)
Six more weeks! No matter what the ground hog predicts today, in six more weeks we can expect it to be spring. But we haven't really had much of a winter so far. I know I am borrowing trouble to say that. I can remember some March snowstorms that were as bad as any I have ever seen. Well, I think I must take that back. The snowstorms of my childhood were pretty terrific...

It's a puzzle (01/26/06)
Our family likes to give gifts that test patience, knowledge, spatial, math and verbal skills. In other words we give each other puzzles. This year Lester received another Rubic's Cube. He had one years ago when the craze first began. All of the family played with it, tried to work it, and very few of us succeeded. The new one has not been tried very much. It isn't even smudged with sticky fingerprints like the old one was...

Old habits: friends or foes? (01/19/06)
When you are middle age plus, old habits die hard. Some habits don't need to die. I can still wash my teeth at the same time, in the same way each day and only need to get used to different types of toothpaste. Personal hygiene habits are useful when you are this age because if you weren't in the habit of doing these necessary chores, no telling what slobs we would all become...

What's your name? (01/12/06)
When I was in college one of the popular songs was "What a Difference a Day Makes." The lyrics go on to say "24 little hours." That song ran through my head last Sunday when it wasn't 24 hours that made a difference, but one second. I was leisurely driving north behind the United Methodist Church when at one of those sleepy little intersections behind Cottey, the women's center and our church, our car was in an accident. ...

Where did I put that? (01/05/06)
The only thing more confusing than changing to a new purse is to move things from an old billfold into a new one. When we lived in Versailles, Mo., in 1984, I bought a new brown purse that had a matching billfold, check holder and memo book. That zippered brown billfold moved into a series of new black purses until in 2005 the zipper finally got stuck to the point that it was unusable. ...

Happy New Year! (12/29/05)
A once-popular song that Bing Crosby sang in the movie, "Holiday Inn" has the words, "what are you doing New Year's, New Year's Eve?" Later on the lyrics say, "let's start the New Year right with a fond goodnight." The movie takes place in a resort in northern New England that was open to celebrate the holidays and there was much tension whether there would be enough snow to entice the Christmas and New Year's crowd to the inn. ...

Decorating for Christmas (12/22/05)
When we were first married I made a decision that each Christmas I would add one thing to our Christmas decorations. That way I would build up a good assortment of things for the tree or for the house. It was such a good idea --except that after 59 Christmases we now have so many Christmas decorations that I find it hard to find a proper place to put them all...

Only 10 more days (12/15/05)
Advertisements keep telling us that we need to get busy and finish up our shopping. Every store reminds us how quickly the time will pass between now and the big day. Shoppers have no chance to forget what is coming in just a few days. Buying gifts in these last ten days doesn't worry me. Many of our younger family members prefer their gifts in an envelope and all love the color of green. Of course I try to package it in a little fun gift, but it is no problem...

Winter visitors (12/08/05)
Cold weather brings changes in our lifestyles. For one thing we get lots and lots of visitors. For example, several mice have found their way into our wrap closet. We didn't discover this until cold weather came because we didn 't get into our wrap closet when it was still warm. But the mice were more prepared for cold weather than we were. They had staked their claim on a warm cozy spot before they really needed the warmth...

What do you like to read? (12/01/05)
Each of us has a different perspective on what is interesting, valuable or important. This was reinforced for me this week as I read the Letter to the Editor by Jennifer Hope in the Nov. 25 Daily Mail. I realized that what each of us looks for in a newspaper is not the same...

'I'm glad to meet you' (11/25/05)
When I was a child I had two close circles of friends. One group was the friends I had here in Vernon County that I looked forward to being with every summer. Some of those people are still my friends and unfortunately some of those special friends are no longer living. I had another group of friends who lived in Washington, D.C. where we lived during the school year...

Thanksgiving Thoughts (11/17/05)
One of my favorite Thanksgiving hymns is "We Gather Together." To me the fact that friends and family do gather together to celebrate each other and the bounty of our lives is the whole meaning of the day. I know that on other years I have bemoaned the fact that my turkey wasn't carved prettily or that some of the kids didn't seem to appreciate the amount of work that went into preparing such a meal for a large family. But I never really wanted to change it...

T'ain't funny, McGee! (11/10/05)
The generation gap has really gotten to me lately. It's not that I am unhappy with the morals, styles and past-times of the younger generation. I might be in some of those areas, but that isn't my biggest problem. My problem is that the younger people don't understand my sense of humor...

Procrastinate now (09/08/05)
I have a tendency to put things off. When I see that the floor is getting dirty, I can rationalize that there will be many dirty feet walking on it this weekend, so maybe I should wait until next Monday to mop. There is no use making people miserable by fussing at them for marking up my clean floor...

Cottey College reaches coast to coast (09/01/05)
When we pass the campus of Cottey College on Austin Street, we admire the beautiful campus as we drive the three or four blocks, where we can view the red brick buildings on either side of the street. Even though the campus ends on West Austin, the connections to the college never end. I experienced this last week with contacts both from the state of Washington and Washington, D.C...

Things to see aren't all huge (08/25/05)
We just returned from a trip to Texas to visit family. Texas is where everything is bigger than life. In fact our son told us that if you would flip Texas over that the bottom tip of the state would reach to Canada. He added some other facts about his new home. ...

School Daze revisited (08/18/05)
There is something about walking down a hall in a school building that changes me. I never had any trouble at school. I got good grades. I had many friends. I liked most of my teachers. I felt that I got a good education. But now, when I am middle age plus and enter a school building all of my maturity leaves me. I am again a young person wondering if I look OK, if I remembered to bring everything I need for the day, and what will that person walking the other way think of me...

One totally trashy column (08/11/05)
What did your mother do with her trash? I asked my Ozark-reared husband that question one day and he had a laughing fit. His mother didn't ever have any trash. He said she used everything but the squeal of the pig. Commercial cans, which make a good portion of our trash today (to go to the recycling center), were unheard of. ...

We could use blessings of showers (08/04/05)
Remember the little ditty we used to sing about wishing the rain would go away and come again another day? It has been a long time since I had that type of thought. Even in the spring when we were getting lots and lots of rainy days, I was always glad. You don't have to live through many droughts to know that water is a precious commodity and a little extra some days can help out in dryer days to come...

Reality Checkup (07/28/05)
It has happened. I never thought it would come to this, but it has. I was sure that everyone saw me as a very vital, energetic, completely functional middle age plus person. I was sure that no one was concerned about my abilities or doubted that I could undertake most any responsibility that I was given. But my delusions were shattered this week...

Hometown pride (07/14/05)
I have been waiting for three weeks to write a column that popped into my mind one day. I had it all worded in my mind but hadn't put it on paper (computer) yet. Then other things happened during each week that seemed more appropriate to write about so I put it off. This was the week that I was going to finally share my great idea with you...

Celebration of Family Week (07/07/05)
There is no way to cram more into a holiday weekend than we just did over the Fourth of July. Each of our activities concerned close relatives and at the time I am writing this essay, we are all still on speaking terms and hopefully enjoying each other...

The James Gang and The Younger Family (06/30/05)
When outlaws become mature, they often lose some of their wild ways and settle down to family life. We have found that true this summer with two families of non-domesticated Canada Geese. The one couple that has raised a family on our pond for at least 10 years came back in early spring and fought off all others who tried to find a nesting place nearby. ...

Magical moments (06/23/05)
When you are middle age plus magical moments don't come too often. When they do they carry more magic. We soak up every bit of the fairy dust that gets sprinkled to carry us along until another experience adds to the storehouse. This last weekend had several magical moments for me. ...

Do you remember where it was? (06/16/05)
How much time do you spend trying to remember something about the past? When two or more people from a family, a school class, a club or any group gather, it never fails that someone will ask some question about when or where a certain activity took place...

June, a month of memories (06/09/05)
Remember the song, "June is Busting Out All Over?" When it was first popular I was pregnant in June. In fact we have two children with June birthdays, and my own is also in June. This year my birthday will be celebrated on the weekend of the Fourth of July to coincide with a reunion of Lester's family so that our out of state children can make one trip do for both events...

Summertime (06/02/05)
Summertime and the living is easy. This favorite tune from Porgy and Bess keeps popping into my mind as I look out my window at the abundant grass that needs mowing, the sprouting trees that need to be clipped off and the cluttered sidewalks and decks that summertime ease has created. ...

Lofty thoughts (05/26/05)
I really loved to get high when I was a kid. It doesn't appeal to me as much anymore, but back a few 50 or 60 years ago there was nothing that I liked better. I liked to get high up in a tree. Roofs were made to climb on. And getting to the top of any hill was a must...

How old do you feel? (05/19/05)
Nothing can make you feel old, and yet young again, as quickly as returning to a former home after many years. When our first son (who is now a grandfather) was a newborn we moved to Stockton, Mo., where Lester was going to be the new County Extension Agent. We lived in a house on South Main for about a year and then we bought a 40-acre farm east of town, where we lived until we later came to Vernon County...

We're off on the road to anywhere (05/12/05)
I spend quite a bit of time on the road these days. I have frequent trips to Nevada for business, shopping, church, or to take our great granddaughter to one of her events. At least once a week I take my material in to the newspaper before the deadline. I belong to several organizations that meet some distance away. And occasionally I go to book signings, speaking engagements and out of town to lead Elderhostels...

Aren't they cute? (05/05/05)
There is nothing quite as appealing or cute as a very young animal or fowl. We are blessed with many opportunities this time of year to see this miracle unfold. Each year we enjoy watching our Canada Geese as they fight to maintain our pond for their exclusive nesting spot, and see the alertness with which the gander protects his lady during the incubation period...

There's music in the air (04/28/05)
Music was always a big part of the background of our home when I was growing up. My parents bought an Edison Victrola when I was a baby. This wonderful, five foot tall, square wooden machine played thick, almost unbreakable records with a special durable needle...

Points of interest vary (04/21/05)
I received a map of Nevada that had been provided by Adams and Associates and printed by Star Business Graphics at El Dorado Springs. It is good to have a map to help find some of those hard to find locations like Hoffman Street that only covers a few blocks and then is seen no more...

It all sums up to ignorance (04/14/05)
I am a reasonably intelligent woman. I graduated from high school in the top 10 percent of my class. In high school I took both algebra and geometry and made good grades in each. In college I audited a remedial math course. I was in a car pool that didn't leave the University of Maryland to return to Washington until very late in the afternoon and it was better use of my time to refresh my math skills than to just sit somewhere drinking a coke. ...

Allergies hit home (04/07/05)
I don't have allergies; but my husband has suffered from allergies most of his life. He takes regular shots to keep some of the symptoms from being troublesome. His father also suffered from allergies. Some of our children have inherited the tendency to have allergies. I tell them that they can blame their father for that, because I don't have allergies...

Rampant rumors (03/31/05)
I think we have entered the age of The Rumors. With all of the messages flying through space, a rumor can circle the globe in the time it takes to prepare dinner. That is true even if the dinner is prepared in the microwave. When we read one of these messages in our e-mail we tend to believe the printed word. If it has been forwarded umpteen times, then we think it must be true since so many people thought it was worth sending on...