Thanksgiving Dinner - It was very cold and a light snow was falling as young Jimmy Dorche piloted his Ford Escort down the street toward the city park. Snow on Thanksgiving was a rarity in this part of the country and it caused almost as much excitement as the traditional turkey dinner, the traditional afternoon of football, or the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on television. But none of these things were on 17-year-old Jimmy's mind at the moment as he carefully maneuvered his car over the blacktop. He had his own tradition to tend to and what he was looking for he would probably find in the deserted park. - read more...

The Natural Landscape - Common buzzwords these days are "natural", "organic", "environmentally responsible", "ecology", and other terms relating to how we tend to our environments. In the garden and landscape field, much has been written in recent years concerning our role as stewards of the land; what are the best strategies and techniques to insure that the integrity and health of our surroundings is preserved for future generations? - read more...

Health is Not What You Think - Everyone wants this thing called health, and yet most people have never thought about what their "target of health" actually looks like. If you and your family were healthy, what would it be like? - read more...

Are You Too Young or Too Old to Start a Home Based Business? - "I am only 18 and don't have much experience in business," the young new affiliate states in a popular forum. "I don't have much money. I just signed up for an Internet affiliate program but I don't know if it's something I should do. Is a home based business something I should try?" The response to this question is a resounding, yes! - read more...

Can Cheap Inkjet Cartridges Ruin Your Printer? - The world of inkjet printers has experienced truly explosive growth in the last ten years. This growth has brought about a huge demand for inkjet consumables, especially inkjet printer cartridges. In 2007 inkjet printers around the world will have slurped up and printed out over $25 billion dollars of ink. - read more...

Faith - And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. - read more...

That'll Do Nicely - Regular readers are aware that my childhood years were spent living deep in hillbilly country. On a recent visit back home I was visiting a friend who owns the local gun shop when a man came in and asked to see a shotgun. - read more...

How to House Train Your Dog Effectively - House training is one of the most important parts of training any dog to be a valued part of the family. As with many other aspects of dog training, the best way to house train a dog is to use the dog's own nature to your benefit. - read more...

Wild, Wild Westerns - In the early days of Hollywood, for studios like Universal Westerns were the easiest films to make. They required very few props and made use of the wide-open spaces available in the area. Even the smallest studio, sometimes an empty space between two buildings known as a lot, could easily film outside. It was a cheap and effective way to involve audiences in wild chase scenes involving pure heroes like the white clad Tom Mix going after dastardly villains. One time a theater was showing a Western, when the film suddenly broke right at the climatic scene. An emotional audience member yelled out, "Hurry up and fix it before they get away!" - read more...

A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress Assembled - We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness... - read more...

Solving America's Drug Problem - The other day, someone at a store in our town read that a methamphetamine lab had been found in an old farmhouse in the adjoining county and he asked me a rhetorical question, "Why didn't we have a drug problem when you and I were growing up?" - read more...