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Is it just me or does everyone get tired of trying to figure out what’s for supper every night of the week? Why is it such a daunting task? Sometimes I think to myself, do we really need to eat? I mean I have at least two weeks stored up around my waist. I wish I was more like my step-mom. She had it together when it came to meals. She planned them ahead of time and made shopping lists that reflected the menu. She clipped coupons and knew where all the sales were, just like a magical meal planning Jeanie. I wish I was that organized. I’ve tri...
Currently politics is front and center in many people’s thoughts as this country prepares for the upcoming Presidential election. It seems that over the years, politics and the elections have become more torrid, verbal and targeted. It wasn’t always that way. Growing up in a Republican family, my Granddad and Granny Boyles did not back away from their political views. It seemed my parents followed suit. Granddad and Granny thought highly of President Dwight D. Eisenhower partly because he was a Kansas guy, second was he was a successful general...
Volunteers worked thoughout the day Friday at the Superior Auditorium installing a large screen and projection system which the Ideal Market crew wanted to use at their appreciation supper starting at 5 p.m. One man was on a scissors lift near the ceiling of the great hall. Two others were in the attic. On the floor preparations were underway for the dinner but there was a problem. As part of Friday’s program, the plan was to project onto the big screen a slide show of Ideal Market pictures gathered through the years but an unexpected p...
Q: Some Bible passages tell us to ‘pester’ God with our prayers, others say that we should avoid vain repetition and just have faith; what gives? How often should we ask God for what we want? A: First let me say that it’s normal to see a tension between different Bible passages that address a given topic. If I tell one person to drive west to get to Mankato, Kansas, then tell another to drive east to get to the same place, it can seem like a contradiction. Until I tell you that the first person lives in Belleville and the second lives in Smith...
• Gosh, a beautiful blue sky. What a wind we’re having today . . . We must be in Nebraska. • Gosh, those clouds sure look like a rain may be possible. What a wind we’re having today . . . We must be in Nebraska. • Gosh, look at the dust from the field a farmer just prepared for planting. What a wind we’re having today . . . We must be in Nebraska. • Driving north or south is a lot easier than driving east of west. What a wind we’re having today . . . We must be in Nebraska. • Didn’t we just shovel four + inches of snow the other day? What a w...
The goal of keeping the house clean has failed. The boys were here over the weekend. Between the trip to Omaha on Friday and the trip on Sunday, not a thing was accomplished over the weekend. It’s not bad from the outside looking in, but I have a pile of dishes and several little piles of pet hair floating around. I’m not sure where the pile of dishes came from. A sink full just magically appeared overnight. It’s nothing an hour of my attention won’t take care of but still, housework is never ending and I find that annoying. We stopped at a de...
Volunteers Wanted! This is a request that seems to be always floating around here and other places. Recently I noted on a social media site volunteers were needed to help with some of the interior construction on the new Jewell County Community Wellness Center. In the local newspaper, a request was made that more volunteers are need to help in the operation of the Ute movie theater, as is the case with a lot of the movie theaters in the area in order to keep the doors open. A recent email gave a shout from the Salina Community Theater that...
Hopefully, the lack of an operating jail in Nuckolls County is an indication that Nuckolls County folks have become law abiding citizens. In the early days of the county, the jails were busy places. And in some communities among the first public facilities built. In Nuckolls County the jail was built while the county was renting space for the county offices. After reading back issues of newspapers published in Nuckolls County, I’ve concluded our citizens were not always law abiding. I haven’t done a thorough study but from my weekend rea...
What does Fear of the Lord mean? Should I be afraid of God? A: Let me explain the fear of the Lord with this illustration: I respect the rules of the road and would never deliberately drive on the wrong side, because I ‘fear’ the consequences of a wreck. In the same way I am aware of the awesome power and magnitude of God and seek to live on the right side of His will. I do not tremble and shake while driving because I am confident of my own safety; so long as I follow the rules! In the same way I am not afraid of God as long as I have con...
I’ve mentioned my questioning of the national media reporting practices in the past. Well, maybe I was wrong. The following little item appeared last week concerning the state of Oregon and a change in their laws: to wit: “DRUGS: The Oregon Legislature passed a bill Friday to recriminalize possession of small amounts of drugs, undoing a key part of the state’s first-in the-nation drug decriminalization law amid the deadliest U.S. overdose crisis.” That’s about it folks, seven lines of information about a 180 degree turnabout in the drug laws...
Bob, our cat, is a horrible influence on Duke. Besides taunting him and getting him in trouble, he has introduced him to the “water fountain” in the bathroom. So now instead of fighting with the kids over bathroom time, I fight with the cat and dog over the toilet! It wouldn’t be that big of a deal, except the bathroom door refuses to close properly now, and the two of them know it and can get it open. So anytime I use the toilet, I have a cat trying to get in my lap and a giant dog attempting to do the same. I have my first bug bite of the s...
Mom would have been 114 years old February 28th, 2024. She wrote the last chapter in her book of life at age 96. The church was filled at her funeral service, a testament of her good life and many friends. Her grandchildren and great-grandchildren sang and played beautiful music on the piano and violin, as a final fitting tribute to her and the great love of music in our family nurtured by her for a lifetime. The daughter of a funeral director always needing a pianist, she began young as a church pianist and filled that role for about 84...
Years ago at my baby shower, my mother-in-law gave me a dozen pre-folded diapers and a dozen flat fold diapers. Checking on line, I find there are many more options for cloth diapers today, but that was all there was back then. Along with the diapers, I received big safety pins to hold the diapers in place and plastic pants to fit over them to prevent leaks. I also received several boxes of Pampers (the only brand available) in the newborn size. When my daughter was born, she was on the small side. As soon as I brought her home, I laid her on t...
I am so fond of the month of February. While officially it’s still not spring, I’m happy with it. My reasoning is simple. There are February dates that are special to me and hold memories of loved ones past and present. I became a mother for the first time on Feb. 4, 1968, when our son was born in the Salina hospital. My husband was on his last semester at Vo-Tech Drafting School at Salina. We were nervous and though we only lived five blocks from the hospital, we practiced several times driving to the hospital. Three sisters-in-law of min...
In this week’s From the Files column it is noted this newspaper’s mail processing crew set a record 50 years ago of 85,00 pieces of mail processed in one week. I don’t remember what all we did that week but in those days it wasn’t unusual for our mail to fill the contracted carrier’s truck to capacity and have mail left on the local post office dock. I didn’t understand why postal officials refused to allow a second truck run from Superior to the Hastings processing center. The business was here, the truck company was willing to make the tr...
Ask a Pastor Column Presenting biblical answers to tough questions Q: How do you tell if someone is teaching falsely? A: The Bible offers two basic tests for truth: agreement with God’s Word and the character of the teacher. As the Nation of Israel was entering the Promised Land, God warned them about people who would seek to lead them astray. In order to prepare them to face this, He commanded the Israelites to memorize and study His Word constantly, then compare it with what others are teaching. Any teaching that did not match up was false (...
The scraggly old cedar tree stands on the hill by the side of the road. It has stood there since my childhood, probably wondering if each new land owner would push it down and drag it away. In its younger days, it stood over the new soddy that the young farmer had struggled to cut out of the prairie. Later, as the family grew and prospered, a proud frame house replaced the soddy, which was then used for the chickens for awhile until the snow and rains made it collapse. The tree was strong and straight then, like the young couple. It provided so...
I’ve mentioned before that I like high school and some college basketball games, but I’m not thrilled by the National Basketball Association’s style of games. They just recently had the NBA ‘All-Star’ game. If that is what you want to call it. Did you see the final score: 211-186? I did not see the game. I enjoy seeing points score, but that is ridiculous. A game without defense being played . . . is not a game. It is just a scoring practice. Hopefully, they will either drop the game, or else change it to include some sort of defensive...
I took advantage of the weather Monday, and sat out on the porch with my computer. I sat my computer on an old cast iron stove frame that I normally use as a plant stand. I wish I could find an outdoor table that is about desk height, but small enough to sit on our skinny porch, and light enough to be moved around. I’m typically just hunched over whatever I can find that my laptop will fit on. I’m okay with being a hunch-back, as long as I can be outdoors when the weather is nice. I’m trying to teach Duke to play fetch, but he is more inter...
No mail Monday. No banks open Monday. It was Presidents’ Day! I can remember when President George Washington and President Abraham Lincoln each had their birthdays observed this month. Then they were lumped together to create Presidents’ Day. I guess I’m thankful that Washington and Lincoln still have their birthdays observed in some matter, but their names are not included on most calendars. Recently a media broadcaster went out into the public to ask questions, testing the history knowledge of the younger generation. It did not go well. One...
Ruth Bailey, a UNL student journalist associated with the Nebraska News Service reported this week “Dozens of Nebraskans lined the rows and walls of Room 1525 at the Nebraska Capitol, waiting to testify during the education committee hearing last Tuesday. The hearing, lasting late into Tuesday night, saw more than 70 people testify in-person and more than 500 people submit online testimony about LB 1330, a bill aimed at eliminating some diversity, equity and inclusion–better known as DEI–programs for public educational institutions. LB 1330,...
Q:Why would God let this pandemic kill so many people? This is an important question and one that I want to handle with particular care and sensitivity. Probably the best way to do so is to encourage those seeking the answer to this question to read the story of the sickness and death of Lazarus in the Gospel of John, chapter 11. Jesus Christ was God Himself, living on the earth as a human being. The way he responded to the death of his good friend Lazerus shows us several important things about God’s character. I will present the main p...
When I was in college, I had to take a course in computer programming as a requirement for my major. This would have been fine if the course was in “Basic” language, but the preferred language for mathematics was “Fortran IV.” Back then, computers had a “main frame” that took up a whole building and programs were written on “punch cards” that were produced on special machines. The first day of class, I knew I was in trouble. The teacher talked gibberish and the textbook seemed to be written in a foreign language. As hard as I tried, I had no...
Before cars were air conditioned, during hot weather, drivers and passengers suffered from the heat. We had a 1938 Ford that had a “nose vent” that was located at the back of the hood and the cover could be raised and lowered to get air flow through the car. Far more effective to move air through the car were small side windows which were called “wing windows.” These were usually triangular, but some were rectangular depending on the body style of the vehicle. All of them had a crank you could use to crank them open, part way open or closed....
Alexei Navalny. Oswaldo Paya. Two names that many of us sheltered here in southcentral Nebraska may have never heard of, or just briefly on a national news broadcast. Maybe that’s not all bad, but it does limit our understanding of a conflict between Socialism (Communism) and Capitalism (the free world). Most of us are too involved in our day-to-day lives of church, working, and family that much of what happens in the world does not involve us. Now retired, I’ve had more time to read and I just finished two books that give vivid des...
