Columns

She was born into slavery and “given” as a wedding gift to a Mormon couple in Mississippi named Robert and Rebecca Smith. In 1847 at age 32, Biddy Mason was forced to walk from Mississippi to Utah tending to the cattle behind her master’s 300-wagon caravan. She “walked” from Mississippi to Utah.

The time for New Year’s Resolutions is past, but it is never too late to share some thoughts about how to improve the quality of our lives, no matter which birthday we have or will celebrate.I can’t even keep up with what I am supposed to do TODAY, much less maintain order for an entire year.

Sometimes you just can’t win. I remember long ago when I was in the Navy. We had just completed a port call in Yokosuka, Japan. Its duration was two weeks but the first day we pulled out I saw this real long line of sailors on the hanger deck.

For the past two years this has been the question. Will this covid thing ever end? We can look back to the 1940s and 50s for guidance. Back then another viral infection was terrorizing the world. In a one-week period (1947) during the polio epidemic two children died in Stonewall.

The recent pathetic attempt to arrange for our first snowstorm of the thus-far mild winter conjures up all kinds of memories about adventures in the snow, some pleasant and some not so much. After 75 years in the work force, I can appreciate the attention to detail. Ho! Ho! Ho!

Yes, there are people who live on this earth who see to it. One such individual was a “faithful” customer of mine way back in the 1970s. He was a chronic complainer who was forever being shorted on his medicine, by me.

One of my grandsons got an archery set for Christmas and loves it. Around the same time my friend Kevin Fisher shared the following story . . .Boys are always more inventive . . .Don’t know who wrote this but he has a way with words that make one visualize being right there beside him. Good read.

It has been a long time since I worried about exercising. Tim Jones has decided to follow m y example. He writes . . . Put Down Your DumbbellEver since I was young, competing to earn a spot on my high school’s freshman track team, I have regularly exercised.

Our new year is finally here. So is winter. One thing I did first this year was call my sister Sue. She is now in an assisted living home up in Edmond and I was happy to find she received a new phone for Christmas. It is easier to use, so she thinks. I hope she is right.

I must admit there are days that I think I can’t handle one more problem. I was sharing with a friend this past week about a particularly rough week. He shared the following with me.The Trouble TreeI hired a carpenter to help me restore an old farmhouse.