Category Archives: Opinions
What can we expect in 2022?
A satirical look back at 2021 and ahead to 2022…
So what can I say about the year that has flown by at about 186,000 miles per second?
One of its themes was the debate over whether government has a right to tell freedom-loving Americans to use deodorant so we don’t smell so bad we make everybody around us sick — or something along those lines. Except unfortunately you can’t smell a virus.
The year started off with a patriotic parade through the U.S. Capitol, led by a colorful fellow wearing something that looked like buffalo horns and a dead coyote on his head. The theme of
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Secret Santas make the magic
Secret Santa has returned to the North Pole until next year. Secret Santa has been around for a long time. The tradition of Secret Santa originally came from Scandinavia, a game called Julklapp. An elf would leave a gift at someone’s door, knock on the door and run away. In 
the United Kingdom, it’s called “Kris Kringle.” In Germany, Secret Santa is called “Wichteln,” which means “elf.”
The game begins when each player fills out a questionnaire that asks you to list the kind of
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Is farm pyrolysis the best answer to climate change?
Every day it seems there is a catastrophic event that is in some fashion related to climate change.
Seventy to 80 percent of the people are in agreement now that climate change is a serious issue — if not the most important issue — the 
world faces today with regard to the habitability of our planet. We have all heard and been encouraged to take the hundreds of steps we can do personally to reduce our carbon footprint. And we have heard/read about governmentally and business-wise switching to solar, wind and others as our energy source.
The purpose of all is to stop or vastly decreasing putting carbon dioxide, methane and other global warming gases into our atmosphere. But attendant to the problem is the time delay of
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Perfect time to begin anew
The New Year is here, and I’m excited to see what 2022 has for us! My hope is this coming year will be a season of abundance not just with material prosperity and success, but of love, health and spiritual awareness. As we plant seeds of faith, may we have the patience and expectation to witness the harvest of God’s blessings.
One of my personal resolutions is to be more generous and joyful, even when things are not going well. I’m reminded of a quote by Mother Teresa, who said, “Not all of us can do great things, but we can all do small things with great love.”
January means “beginning,” and as we plan our resolutions, this is the perfect occasion to consider developing physical, emotional and spiritual lifestyle changes. You notice I used the word “developing,” because our goals are often a lengthy process. For example, eating a salad
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Christmas waits for no man
Time is like a giant snowball rolling down the hill, and I stand at the bottom, waiting for it to roll over me.
I’ve gone through the recipes and pulled out the ones for fudge, peanut brittle and Christmas cookies. All the ingredients have been bought and are on the pantry shelves or refrigerator.
Contemplating getting it all done and packed in tin boxes is, frankly, daunting.
It will get done. But not today. That about sizes it up in the final days before Christmas.
FedEx and UPS have faithfully delivered box after box to the house. Most of the drivers know
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Come let us adore Him
The holiday season is called the most wonderful time of the year, but between buying gifts, hosting parties, trying not to break your healthy habits (or the bank) and attending family gatherings, it can also be the most stressful time of the year.
Once again, we are trying to figure out what to give people who already have everything they need. Come to think of it, I’m trying to understand how we went from the wise men bringing gifts to Christ as an act of worship to the ritual of giving gifts to each other? I don’t remember
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The Christmas flower
No Christmas holiday is complete without the poinsettia. Before it was called poinsettia, the bright red plant was called cuetlaxochitl (kut-la-sho-she) by the Aztecs. In Mexico, the poinsettia is a perennial shrub that can grow 10 to 15 feet tall.
The poinsettia has been included in Christmas celebrations in Mexico since the 17th century. The star-shaped leaf pattern is said to represent the Star of Bethlehem, and the color red symbolizes the blood of Jesus.
There are many legends about the poinsettia. One tells of a poor Mexican girl, who wanted to place an offering at the altar for the baby Jesus, but she could find no flowers, so she gathered
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Courier Letters to the Editor 12-22-21
Former law enforcement employee weighs in
Dear Editor,
I am writing about the Nov. 18-21 issue. I saw where Christopher Vaughn was charged with 10 counts of second-degree sexual exploitation
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Peace on Earth and goodwill toward all
I was sitting out on the front porch last Wednesday night working on a hip-hop version of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” to amuse my grandchildren with, when a weird outer-space noise came squawking through my phone.
It was my SkyGuide astronomy app alerting me that the International Space Station was about to pass overhead.
I’ve tried to catch a glimpse of it several times before, but it was always too cloudy or there were too many trees in the way.
But this time, it was coming in from the northwest, crossing the Pacific coast of Canada and
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The magic of possibility
Does anybody remember the Sears catalog? It came in the mail every year.
I’m not talking about the Wish Book catalog. That was invented later. I’m talking about the thick catalog that occupied hours of our time before Christmas, laid open on the floor as we turned the pages gazing at all the riches that might be ours.
We’d look at the bicycles. I longed for a blue one. Matt wanted a red one.
We looked at pogo sticks and imagined ourselves on them outside, traveling to unknown destinations.
We never looked at clothes. That was not a particular interest to either of us.
I always knew the hand-me-downs from my older cousins would eventually wind up in my You must be logged in to view this content.
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