everyone’s kids
Bus angel, even when I am anything but
It’s nearly the end of the school year in Milton-Freewater. Despite starting the year under sweltering summer heat made worse by a heavy blanket of grief, my kids have had an exceptional year. There are a lot of people to thank for that, from teachers to food service staff and secretaries to some folks I [...]
Stay alive, Jimmie Johnson
So I might as well tell you this, if you don’t already know…I can throw a world-class pity party for myself from time to time. In the past almost-year, I have asked God more than once why he took the father of our children before they were raised. I mean, absolutely, our daughters still at [...]
Hecka lotta wasps
I figured when I got rid of most of the overgrown shrubs around the perimeter of my house, we’d see way less wasps this summer. How could I have known the evil buggers would decide to move into the black metal rim of the trampoline, all nice and heated and hollow…and protected from my sight. [...]
Excuse me, barge coming through!
Let me introduce Glen Dickason to my blog readers. Those of you who follow my newspaper column, “Home Place,” may remember Glen was a guest columnist for me two weeks ago. He talked about the ups and mostly downs of teaching his parents how to work a multitude of TV remote controls. Reader Vern Shafer [...]
Cheap food, expensive results
From the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health The Steep Cost of Cheap Food Obesity and Diabetes Threaten Children of Color When diabetes educator Eva Marie Vivian sees overweight minority children, she sees a generational tragedy unfolding. Type 2 diabetes was virtually unheard of in children a generation ago, but now as [...]
She’s got a ticket to ride
— for life, if she learns the lesson. So the baby got a speeding ticket. Not the baby baby, but the 20 year-old baby (all the girls in our house were “Baby” to the man of the house and I see no reason to change things now). She called me on the phone — I [...]
100th post!
I finally get why they make a big deal on network television when a show reaches the 100th episode…it’s that many babies born, so to speak. So today is No. 100 on this blog for me. Let me give you some numbers that show up on my screen when I look at “From the Storage [...]
Tiny lil’ post about tiny lil’ shoes
It’s Monday and I’m already running ahead of my feet. But let me share a sweet moment with you. Here, in the newsroom, we have a couple of approaching baby events. One soon-to-be mommy sits close to my desk, where nearly every day I get to view an amazing and fun assortment of footwear that [...]
Survey results from Lincoln Alternative High — not for the squeamish
Much of the following information comes from a survey done by Walla Walla Public School District intervention specialist, Brook Bouchey, at Lincoln Alternative High School in March, 2009. While this posting is not the complete list of Bouchey’s statistics, and some facts are for America as a whole, the numbers are thought-provoking. For more of [...]
Doughnut-flavored lemonade…from a lemon
This morning, probably right now, a perfect pairing is going on at my daughter’s school. It started out looking bad, I have to say. The note came home on green copier paper — “Doughnuts with Dad!” It was to be a nice event featuring dads and kids sharing a doughnut and a story before school, [...]
