From Gophers to Moles to Voles – Oh, My

A few years ago, we were invaded by gophers and a mole or two. I think the moles left when the gopher mounds began multiplying. We had over a dozen mounds on our front lawn at one point. Argh! We put a trap in one hole and the next morning five more mounds had erupted …

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Spring and God Green

According to Siri, California drought conditions started in 2000. I’m not sure I agree with her because I remember intermittent wet years that were not that long ago and wearing goloshes to muck around in our flooded backyard. I remember joyous frog song in the growing pond behind our fence and muddy dog prints on …

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Collections

I didn’t realize I was a collector until I started looking closely with an eye to purging at what we have around our house. Alas, I do collect things! It became clear that my eyes are drawn to the same things. For example, whenever we travel and I look for a souvenir that represented the …

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A Confession

I confess. I’m a Trekkie. I became one in 1966 and still am one today. I was in college when “Star Trek” came on television – the original with William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. Oh, that enticing call of “Space: the final frontier…to explore strange new worlds…to boldly go where no man has gone before.” …

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Human Trafficking Prevention

This month is Human Trafficking Prevention month, though there should never be a time limit on awareness. ICE reported that 291,000 unaccompanied migrant children (as of May 2024), and more than 32,000 received notice but failed to appear. The notice, of course, does not go to the child, but to the sponsor who was “vetted” …

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Gladiators

I have been interested in gladiators since seeing the movie “Spartacus” with my parents in October 1960 at the Golden Gate Cinerama – with the huge wrap-around screen. Years later, I created a gladiatorial character – Atretes, a captive Germanic “barbarian” – in The Mark of the Lion trilogy. It was possible for a gladiator …

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New Year, New Possibilities

It’s that time of year again when we look to the next twelve months and make resolutions. The most common are daily routine (ex: get up earlier), eat healthy, lose weight, save money, quit smoking. Most people (88% according to Google) give up by the end of January. Having had the same problem, I give …

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Life is in the Blood

I had a blood test recently and received a list of fascinating results. It got me thinking about how much information we can now obtain from a small sample of our blood. Blood can tell us about specific medical conditions such as heart disease (even a recent heart attack), thyroid disease, cancer, diabetes, sexually transmitted …

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New Christmas Traditions

Man plans, but God prevails. A few months ago, we thought the Lord was pointing us east to a new location, new home, new adventure. Our daughter and son-in-law wanted us to move in with them so they could be on hand to help us as we needed. We are getting older. Rick has advancing …

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