Serving all of Eastern Laramie County since 1908
Serving all of Eastern Laramie County since 1908
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Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it. Helen Keller (1880 - 1968)...
Tell me if you’ve read this before — Heavenly Father, We come before You today to ask Your Forgiveness and seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, ‘’Woe to those who call evil good,’’ but that’s exactly what we have done. We have lost our Spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values. We confess that; we have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it pluralism; We have worshiped other gods and called it multiculturalism; We have endorsed perversion and called it...
Have you ever noticed that there is a “timeline” for when things should happen in our lives? Ok, this doesn’t necessarily mean that our lives are mapped out, but it’s true. If you look at many parenting books it indicates a base age for when your kid should start doing certain things — this can include teething, walking talking and so on. For my youngest son, Aydin, that timeline was thrown out the window. Aydin walked late, talked late and basically did everything else late, too. I thought t...
I think if fishing is referred to in the Bible, then it’s an activity everyone should partake in Easter Sunday. I try very hard to stay on the straight and narrow, and eagerly got myself shoreside Sunday afternoon. All the necessary items were loaded in the truck such as poles, bait, chairs, chocolate, and refreshments before we headed to the family pond. Less spectators there for the adventure with three young children. Any of you who have fished or done any activity with humans below the a...
“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” That verse found in Proverbs 29:18 (KJV) was used by an air force base my family was stationed at a couple decades ago as a theme phrase for a year. I remember hearing that, briefly wondering how they got away with using scripture for a base focus, then letting it pass me by without another thought as to what that scripture means. That’s kind of funny since I had lost part of my physical vision once and it scared me half to death. I was sitti...
I received an e-mail from a Wilson Yin this morning telling me he wanted to talk to me about a $48M confidential matter. I couldn’t believe it! Someone in China — the e-mail showed that it has been translated — was wanting to talk to me about a confidential matter. How could this be? Who could this be? I must be truly blessed! I was stunned. I was shocked. I was … entertained. Like many of you who receive e-mails like this, my first thought was to delete it. Obviously this is a scam like so...
There is a dog, a big floppy-eared bloodhound German Sheppard mutt, that lives in a house on a road well traveled by the Smiths. The first time I noticed him, he was laying on the front porch. He was new to the neighborhood, and it was nice seeing activity in the lonely house. Until I realized he is an odds breaker; he races cars. Not the tire-biting-fear-you’ll-run-him-over type, he just likes the chase. I’m pretty sure he knows he won’t win. And sometimes he lets us go by without even lifti...
There are a few times a year that people tend to take a look at their lives and are either pleased or become determined to make changes. Those times are usually at the dawn of a new year, or at a birthday or anniversary. We also assess our lives, or at least our lifestyles when we file our taxes every year. It gives us a picture of how healthy we are when we add in the deduction of health care expenses. It shows us where we’ve been when we pop in the mileage numbers. It shows what matters to u...
Like many of you, my family and I celebrated St. Patrick’s Day on Sunday. As we sat down to our meal of corned beef, cabbage, carrots and potatoes, my youngest son asked why it was we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day. He said it wasn’t like Christmas, Easter or even Halloween, so why, he asked. My wife, not being big in history looked at me. She said, “Your name is Patrick, you tell him.” I am not sure how the two relate, but I knew I wasn’t getting out of it. Lucky for me this is a topic I hap...
I have a really nice dining room set. When it was first purchased, my family was growing from two young parents and two little boys to welcoming a pink bundle in a few months. And a year later another pink bundle came along. For the first couple of years, the set worked well, with three in high chairs, we had three chairs left for company. But as life goes, through loss and growing up, family members left the table. Not all left for good, but what once was a table I added folding chairs to for...
I would like to again thank the drivers of the snow plows that come out here north of Pine Bluffs. You have come out in the very early mornings and have worked late into the nights. Long hours and can be a dangerous job. Seeing you coming down the highway or driving by on the highway with your bright, colorful lights boldly flashing, and house always felt a sense of safety and security when in the middle of a storm of snow and the constant winds. I pray for your safety and thank you for the...
There are two things I learned this weekend: 1. Bountiful Baskets are pretty cool. 2. Daylight Savings Time is not so cool. As you are all aware this weekend we did the whole “Spring Ahead” thing. You know, when we begrudgingly turn our clocks ahead an hour. This means that many of us struggled to shake the fog blanketing our brains as our bodies tried to adjust to the time change. So why do we do this? Daylight Savings Time was started in 1918 in an effort to conserve energy but was rep...
Spring is a week away, our clocks have sprung forward, and the chill is breaking away to warmth in the air. Time to cast a line, throw a hook, and reel in the big one. Fish or cut bait! “Fish or cut bait” is a common colloquial expression which dates back to the 1800’s in the United States. It advised for “swift decision-making,” and cautioned against procrastination and indecisiveness. The meaning of the expression has expanded over time and is now interpreted in many different ways. A true fi...
I am not a superstitious person. In fact, I think the number 13 has been given a bad rap. I mean, it is an odd number, but aren’t we all a little odd? That thing about walking under a ladder? Not bad luck really, just stupidity running rampant. I mean, really, do you think it is smart to walk under or near a piece of equipment when your action could cause someone to fall or them to fall on you? Really? And black cats are just cute, like all other cats. Anyway, I do believe in what could be t...
It’s easy appreciating the energy conversion efforts by Texan T. Boone Pickens. His campaign to increase the use of natural gas powered vehicles is having some big effects across America and in Wyoming, too. Another champion of natural gas-powered vehicles has been Gov. Matt Mead who recently had his new state-authorized GMC Denali converted to run on compressed natural gas. A good example. A lot of state vehicles are making that switch, too. So why would Wyoming be logical place to use more n...
I’ve become enamored by the Playing For Change videos that have a home on YouTube. Have you seen these? It’s possible someone has posted a video on your Facebook page and maybe you shared it with someone else or on your own page. If not, you should go to YouTube and check it out. Playing For Change was born out of the idea that we could inspire each other through music. The videos are a collection of musicians all over the world playing the same song. Songs such as Stand By Me, Sitting on the...
A mid-winter trip from Dallas, Texas, to Lander, Wyoming should be routine. Almost boring. Well, not so fast. Nancy and I had been enjoying some warm weather in our old motorhome (called FollowMyNose) at an RV Park in Melissa, Texas. The night before my flight to Denver, we were awakened by a ruckus. In typical wifely fashion, my main squeeze demanded: “Go check it out. I hear something.” After struggling awake and opening the blinds, the sight in front of me was scary and breathtaking. It was...
“Hear me , my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.” ~ Chief Joseph Let me tell you a story about a man who knew how to fight. Hinmatóowyalahtq, popularly known as Chief Joseph was the leader of the Wallamwatkain tribe in northeast Oregon late in the 1870’s, during the most tumultuous period in the Native Americans contemporary history. They were being forcibly removed from their land and put on significantly reduced reserv...
Have you ever learned something that makes you just sit and say, “Hmm!”? For instance, did you know that the same 13 elements that make up topsoil make up our bodies? That would make us kin to the garden not to chimps. And something I gathered from my Bible reading: God did not speak man into being. In Genesis 1:3 “God said ‘Let there be light …’” In Genesis 1:6 He spoke the expanse between water and water into being thus creating the sky. In Genesis 1: 9 He said “Let the water under the sky b...
I watched a movie this weekend that I have seen many times before. However, this time the movie hit me in a different way. The movie, Chasing Amy, is directed and written by Kevin Smith. Smith is well known for his other films, Clerks, Mallrats, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Dogma and Jersey Girl. In this movie, the main character, played by Ben Affleck, has fallen for a woman who is attracted to other women. Her character, played by Joey Lauren Adams, in turn falls in love with him. Without going in to a lot of detail about the film, Ben...
“What’s the story behind this afghan, mom,” asked my oldest as he snuggled under the blanket. I told him his great-grandmother crocheted it and I stole it from my sister. He wondered why I took it, and I explained he had burned my afghan from my grandmother on a floor heater, his aunt had an extra of grandma’s, so I took it. Everything in life has a story behind it. Another story in this edition talks about the cherry tree and George Washington. It didn’t happen, the country needed something...
I am sure many of you tuned in to the 55th Grammy Awards presentation, Sunday night. I tuned in a bit late, but was there soon enough to see one of my favorite bands, Mumford and Sons, perform with an array of musicians and then win album of the year with their sophomore studio album, Babel. If you haven’t heard this album, or are on the fence about buying it, hesitate no more. It is a fantastic collection of songs and an excellent addition to the band’s discography. I own the album on vinyl and digitally. While I enjoyed what I got to see of...
My most favorite, most memorable valentine I ever received was anonymous. When I was in seventh grade, someone left a three pound box of chocolates on my doorstep. No note, no call later to see if I received it, no nudge at school the next day claiming the gift. It was a baited hook of love that wasn’t attached to any pole. Just a little something to feed love to the lonely from an unknown source. It’s pretty awesome to have someone think enough of you to send an expression of love ano...
This statewide column-writing idea started when Wyoming Tribune Eagle managing editor Reed Eckhardt asked me to write a weekly commentary about the 2002 statewide political races. And here we are, some 520-plus columns later, and we’re still going strong. There were two reasons why he asked me to do this job: 1) Wyoming Republicans had just overwhelmingly voted for Eli Bebout over some guys named Ray Hunkins, Bill Sniffin and Steve Watt in the August, 2002 governor election. My participation i... Full story
It is a pain in the neck to have to keep going in circles. I try my best to save steps, tires, gas, what have you, by planning out routes so I am not backtracking. The time expended going in circles is, generally speaking, wasted time and I don’t like to waste time. For me this is especially important when shopping. Let’s make a list, stick to it and not have to make a repeat visit to the same store/area in the same day. (I am not a shopper so this is really important to me and though it may not...
