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The Need For Speed I've been doing a lot more driving around lately and as a consequence, I've seen a lot more dead animals in the road or beside it. Each time I pass one, I say a little prayer for its soul and send a wish for its peace and happiness in whatever... ( added 4 days 21 hours ago.)

Blind Devotion A woman walks up to her local 99 cent store. She has been there at least a hundred times before. She pushes on the front door to enter the shop and the door does not open. In the past, it has always opened when she pushed on it. She pulls out her... ( added 11 days 21 hours ago.)

Father's Day In many ways, I don't feel qualified to write an article about fathers or Father's Day. I lost my birth father when I was almost 17 years old (August 4, 1969), my father-in-law on December 5, 2005 and my step-dad just this January on the 6 th . I... ( added 17 days 18 hours ago.)

Random Thoughts, Part 4 Parallel Universes and a Perfect World How many times have you heard someone say something and your unspoken (or maybe not) reply was, "Yeah, sure, in a perfect world." I hear that little phrase, or some close variation on it, more and more.... ( added 18 days 21 hours ago.)

How Far is Too Far? That's the question really. You could phrase it another way: What is acceptable and what is not acceptable? But what it all comes down to is how much you are willing to tolerate. Maybe there is something you want really, and I mean really... ( added 25 days 21 hours ago.)

I Drove to Another Country Well, not really. But it sure felt like it for a number of reasons. You wouldn't think that 2,000 feet of elevation could make that much difference. On its own it doesn't, but there were other factors. It took me about an hour and a half to reach... ( added 32 days 21 hours ago.)

Random Thoughts, Part 3 Bait and Switch My husband, Bernd, has begun a search for affordable term life insurance. We both have whole life policies, but they have a declining balance and as we get older, they will pay out less and less when we die. There is a side... ( added 39 days 21 hours ago.)

My Top Ten Pieces of Advice for Graduates Listen to what everyone has to say, but chose only what feels right to you. Hard work does not automatically pay off well in the end. Consider how hard it is to dig a deep hole in the sand. Make wise goals. A goal that is impossible to attain will... ( added 43 days 15 hours ago.)

Self- Determination is Over-rated I like fire. I like everything about it. Its heat. The colors. The way the flames dance. I love to watch fire. I could be content to light a fire in my fireplace, fire pit or chimnea if I had any of those. I don't so I'm happy with the memory... ( added 46 days 21 hours ago.)

My First Horse Riding Show No, I wasn't in it. I just attended to watch my friend ride two dressage tests. I'd only been there a couple of minutes when I was put to work. It's a small club and the turnout wasn't huge, so an extra pair of hands was most welcome. I didn't... ( added 53 days 21 hours ago.)

Aches and Pains and a Lazy Saturday Afternoon It's Saturday afternoon and I am sitting at my computer. Truth is, I've been sitting here pretty much all day long. I just don't feel like doing much else. My left shoulder blade is very tender to the touch, my left side is achy, my left little... ( added 60 days 21 hours ago.)

The Magical Number 9 I've always been partial to the number 8. After all, I was born on the 8 th day of the 8 th month in a year, which if you add up all four digits, the result is 8. Eight turned on its side is the symbol for infinity, which is cool. And the number 8... ( added 67 days 19 hours ago.)

What Makes a Writer Good? A Poem What is it That makes a writer good? Is it his ability To take us in Catch us up Make us believe Wholeheartedly In the world he has created? Is it the way She knits her words Stitch by careful stitch So... ( added 74 days 12 hours ago.)

Hot Buttered Popcorn Bernd decided he wanted popcorn for dinner after working very hard all day as an optician (if you think that can't be hard work, then you've never been one). There is nothing wrong with popcorn for dinner, especially since we eat our main meal at... ( added 74 days 19 hours ago.)

"Why We Make Mistakes" a Book Review Written by Joseph T. Hallinan, "Why We Make Mistakes," is a clear and well written look into some of the inner workings of the human mind. While he does devote one small chapter at the end to advise us on how to make fewer mistakes, that is not... ( added 76 days 18 hours ago.)

Why Lie? A lot of things are on my mind right now, but chief among them seems to be the question, why do we lie. I bought the book, "Why We Make Mistakes," by Joseph T. Hallinan. I am about half way through it and it has been interesting, well written and... ( added 81 days 18 hours ago.)

Cats Love Noogies It's true, cats love noogies. Every cat we have ever had and every cat we have ever met has loved noogies. So what's a noogie, you ask. The online Miriam-Webster dictionary defines it this way: The act of rubbing one's knuckles on a person's head... ( added 88 days 19 hours ago.)

It Just Isn't Working for Me By now, everyone is familiar with the milk sugar lactose and its nemesis, the enzyme lactase. Some bodies happily produce this enzyme all their lives, some stop at some point, and some never really get the hang of it. Taking lactase pretty much... ( added 95 days 19 hours ago.)

Why The Chinese will Never Rule the World Much attention has been given to the Chinese in recent years and their rapid industrial growth. Seems everything you buy these days is made in China . Well, not everything yet but that seems to be the fear. I say we have nothing to worry about. ... ( added 102 days 20 hours ago.)

My First Horseback Riding Lesson There is a young woman, I'll just call her A , who has come to Arizona from Germany because of an advertisement she saw in a newspaper. She works for room and board and in return cares for a large stable-full of horses. There are a lot of Paints... ( added 106 days 19 hours ago.)

Random Thoughts, Part 2 TV Commercials Boy, now there's a loaded topic for me. Some are fun and entertaining. Most are not. The majority of them annoy the heck out of me for one reason or another. And I'm not easily annoyed well okay, maybe a little more easily annoyed... ( added 109 days 19 hours ago.)

Never go to Bed Angry On the day that Bernd and I were wed, someone asked my paternal grandmother what advice she would give the bride and groom. Her advice was this: Never go to bed angry ... always kiss and make up first. She was looking at it from a relationship... ( added 116 days 17 hours ago.)

I Went for Rocks and Found a Philosopher I met a woman today. At the swap meet. She smelled of hard liquor and was all frizzy gray hair and sun burnt nut-brown skin and rosy cheeks. She wore no glasses and her eyes held a perpetual squint and were nearly invisible for her kinky gray... ( added 123 days 20 hours ago.)

Writer's Block Writer's block is a lot like constipation. You know it's in there; you just have to get it out somehow. And you know you will feel so much better when you do. There is nothing quite like writer's block (except, of course, for the tasteless... ( added 130 days 16 hours ago.)

Give Yourself a Pep Talk Whenever I am sitting on the ah throne and I finish a roll of you know, I toss the core at the trash can, some six or so feet away. I usually miss unless I've told myself that I can make the shot (nothin' but net hear the crowd roar!). Then, I... ( added 137 days 20 hours ago.)