First sign of spring: absent husband

Written by Patty Decker Tuesday, 03 April 2012 14:24

It’s easy to know warmer weather is here by the absence of my husband inside our house.

There’s no point in me checking for him upstairs, downstairs, under the house or at his computer, because Randy won’t be in any of those places.

He is outside as soon as he gets home from his day job. He might be busy watering the lawn, planting something new or mowing. It’s as if he transforms himself into “Randy the Landscaper” by night.

His sister often jokes that her brother, who grew up on a dairy farm, remains a farmer at heart and the yard is his acreage.

But it’s not corn, wheat or soybeans he plants and harvests. It’s bamboo, a variety of grasses, other foliage and even catnip.

The catnip, he said, was a money-based...

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Oil industry on the rise in Midwest

Written by Jerry Engler Tuesday, 06 March 2012 14:54

It was cotton planting time. Some of the sugar cane was already 6 inches high, and the daytime temperatures were in the 70s and 80s.

We were in Harlingen, Texas, in January and the first of February this year.

In early January, the day we arrived, there was an hour-and-a-half to two hours of gunfire in Matamoros across the border from Brownsville, and only a short distance from us in Harlingen.

People said they could hear it in Harlingen, and they told us it was reported that the members of the police force in Matamoros were all dead, killed by the drug gangs.

The Mexican Army had taken control of the city, and the shooting was soldiers against the gangs, they said, or perhaps gangs against gangs.

The last event made the news at...

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Do something to make a difference

Written by Patty Decker Tuesday, 31 January 2012 13:57

Most people by the age of 18 years old or thereabouts learn that life no longer centers only around themselves. They know, whether instinctively or through family, that once they are adults, everyone needs to pitch in to make their communities a better place for everyone.

Some even branch out by making the world a better place.

What would have happened if a majority of scientists or medical people didn’t care about eradicating polio, and instead just went to work, came home, chatted with the family and went to bed?

The same is true about our communities. What would happen if no one came forward to give their time and talents to make life easier and better for themselves and others? I’ve seen examples of that recently right here in...

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Resolutions led to purse revelation

Written by Patty Decker Tuesday, 03 January 2012 14:04

When it comes to making New Year’s resolutions, I do an excellent job of thinking about what I should do. But when it comes to executing the plan, that’s another story.

Some of these “action” resolutions have included exercising more, eating less, getting better organized, giving back, learning something new each day and not procrastinating. Of course, I have thought of many more over the years.

The beginning of a new year offers me a chance to become aware of those things I consider my shortcomings and, if I work at them, they could help change my attitude. The trick is to persevere.

Even though I haven’t mastered all my resolutions, I have had some successes in the past.

Instead of having insurmountable goals, experience...

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