Failing to plan is planning to fail - let's plan!

Ever heard of J. Harlen Bretz and Joseph T. Pardee? They were the scientific heretics of the early 1900’s who posited the theory of a glacial Lake Missoula and a mammoth flood shaping the channeled scablands of Eastern Washington, washing an area stretching from Montana to the Willamette Valley. It was considered a preposterous hypothesis. The consensus of the scientific community was that such a large and earth shaping event was inconceivable, as it violated the accepted principle of Uniformita… Continue

Good news for me today, I got my first by line with a guest editorial published in the Seattle P-I. If you'd like to read my suggestion for saving the state $2,795,000 and getting a better grip on what priorities of government should mean, then I invite you to read along at: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/398437_womenbiz03.html

I'm blogging now, but I've been writing letters to the editor for over 40 years. My very first letter to the editor (I was in the 5th grade) was also a suggestion… Continue

Dear North Dakota Legislators,

We're in Minot, North Dakota for a few days visiting our daughter, son-in-law and grandson at their new home at Minot AFB. We drove here from Washington (state) via I-90, I-94 and US Hwy 2 to deliver a car stuffed to the roof with odds and ends of luggage, a computer, a dog, and a cat. We spent yesterday entertaining the grandson and the dog while United Van Lines delivered a truck load of furniture. Thanks for turning up the temperature for our visit, we understa… Continue

I am a native Washingtonian and have always lived in the northeast corner of the most northwest of the 48 contiguous states. As a child who only watched football during bowl games, I had a very simple way of deciding who I would root for. I sided with the university located farthest west. If both were from the west, the tie-breaker was which school was farther north. If it was WSU Cougars vs. UW Huskies, then go Cougs! It was a simple, childish tribal impulse of hometown allegiance applied to so… Continue

It’s the time of year when visions of sugarplums and Christmas songs get stuck in your head. Here’s what’s been playing in my head for the last three days (with apologies to the Rolling Stones):

You can’t always get what you want,
You can’t always get what you want,
You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometimes
You just might find
You get what you need.

We’ve spent most of the last three days recovering from one storm, working outside during the last storm, and getting ready for… Continue