Sophie's Story

         It's that time of year again. Time for us to pack up the the car and head east to Door County. C looks forward to this all year and is always anxious when it  is time to go. He likes to leave early so we can get up there as soon as we can.     We have been doing this for 20 years. Our first trips were Monday through Friday only so I wouldn't miss too much work.. Eventually we stayed a week in Door County and one day in Green Bay. We had our trips cut short twice. Once because I messed up our reservations and once when C was asked to help at a baptism. (I was upset about the last one for a long time,)     When we first came here I was working full time this was the only vacation I got. I badly needed this week of rest in order to keep going at work. C and I both worked full time so we got to spend a lot of needed time together. One year we came here less than a month after a  friend of mine died in a car wreck and six months after my mother disowned me. I was in need of

     I have always believed that God has a great sense of humour. I was reminded of this a few weeks ago when I was asked to be part of the leadership for the children's Sunday school classes in my ward (Primary). The reason why this is so funny is because of the five women who have no children in my ward, I am the only one with no experience when it comes to children. No younger siblings to care for, no nieces and nephews that I spent time with and no young stepchildren. In other words the one least qualified to hold this position.   The reason why I accepted this calling was because the Primary President had asked for me. She is a woman for whom I have great respect. She was the Relief Society secretary when I was a counselor. She must have seen something in me that she thought would be helpful to her. Despite my woeful lack of qualifications and my inability to deal with most people under the age of 55, I accepted the calling.    My first Sunday in Primary was spent observing fr

     Hi, This is Barnaby. Mom has a busy day today so I am writing her column. Willow is helping me because her paws are smaller so she can type better than I can.    We are happy living here. This is a nice house and these are good humans. Here are a few reasons why we like living here.    Food and treats. We like the food that we get and are happy that we don't have to hunt. Sometimes Willow says she'd like to hunt the squirrels we see outside the window. I'm not sure about that. The squirrels look a little scary to me. C gives us a gravy stick that we share. It's really good although sometimes I think Willow gets more than her share. (No I don't- Willow) We also like our drinking fountain that has fresh water in it every day. I like to hide puff balls in it. Willow and Sophie don't like that when it happens    A nice house. We have a nice house. It has large windows that allow us to see the front and back yards. That is very helpful as we need to alert the hu

     For many people the most wonderful time of the year is  Christmas. For me, it's fall.     There are many reasons why I love this time of year so much. today I'd like to share a few with you.     This is apple season. Apples are my favourite fruit and I live in a part of the country where apples are grown which means I can get get them fresh. I've even picked apples myself a few times. I like pairing apples and cheese which is sometimes my lunch at work. I like apple crisp too and have been known to eat it for breakfast. I have a couple recipes for apple cake which are good. I also like to make apple sauce with apples that have gone soft and are not crisp as I would like.    My favorite apple is Keepsake. It is a small sweet apple that stores well. They don't ripen until mid October and it's hard to find because it's not a popular as it used to be. Fortunately there are many other varieties that I like.    I also enjoy apple cider. A few days ago, we had an

                In the years I've been writing this column, I've tried to steer away from politics.  There are enough spaces for people to argue political views that I didn't feel I needed to provide another. However, certain statements from some candidates for office have left me unable to stay silent. This is one of those times. If you disagree with me and wish to tell me so, I don't mind. I do ask that any comments be respectful.    Several days ago a candidate for national political office said that as much as he hated to admit it, school shootings are a fact of life. Something we just need to live with. On one hand, he isn't wrong, school violence is not a new thing. When I was in school in the mid 1980s I remember at least two bomb threats where the school was cleared until no threats were found in the building. I remember at least one bomb threat when I was in college. He's also not wrong about school shootings getting a lot of attention. No one cared abo

     C and I were getting tired of eating in the same restaurants when we finish our longer bike rides. A couple of weeks ago we were planning a ride and discussing the post ride meal when C had an idea. Why don't we have a picnic?  I thought it was a great idea and we began to plan. C decided he would make egg salad. We would bring buns, chips and carrot sticks. We could put it in the big cooler and it would keep while we rode. Both of us were happy and excited.    The next day we packed our cooler, loaded our bikes and headed out to ride. When we were almost to our starting point we realized that we had for gotten to being paper plates and utensils. Oh well, it just meant we would need to buy them along with our drinks.     After our ride we stopped at a local grocery store. I discovered that I had put some plastic forks in a pocket of the cooler. C bought paper plates and drinks. We found a table next to the old train depot in Red Wing with a view of the river and close enough t