Today Joanne and I went hiking at St. Francois State Park.

St. Francois is a little more than an hour away, and it’s a beautiful place to get away to for a day trip. It’s the northern beginning of the Ozark hills, with forest, creeks and a river. We used to camp there a lot when Joanne and I were younger; it’s been a while, and the good old wooden ( Read more... )

It’s been a month or so now, but I wanted to be sure and write about the strangest wildlife encounter I’ve had so far - inside the house!

I was sitting at the table working at my computer - I think I was trying to write an outline for a program or something - and kept getting distracted by strange noises. I thought there must be a squirrel or ( Read more... )

Hello from Idaho ( Read more... )

I'm going to be skipping around a little as I try to catch up.

This is an email I sent to family and friends on June 11:

Greetings from Idaho ( Read more... )

I've been putting off writing here, because I never got around to writing about a rather significant event that happened... good grief, that was back in March! I just checked the email I sent to various people when it happened, and it was the middle of March!

What happened was, I got a job.

( Read more... )

This morning started out cool, but warmed up very quickly. By lunchtime it felt like summer: hot, humid, and close. The morning’s breeze had been lukewarm, but now even it was long gone, and the air was completely still.

As the afternoon wore on, hot and sticky, the appearance of a few clouds provided some relief. Eventually the sky was overcast, ( Read more... )

I don't mean the workouts are hard. I mean it's hard just going to work out. Just getting on the workout clothes or the walking shoes or whatever and actually getting up and making myself walk out the door.

( Read more... )

Just when I was all set to start posting every day or two, I got a cold and my brain turned to mush. It's an interesting situation; I'd write more about it, except my brain has turned to mush ( Read more... )

I have always loved books. I grew up being read to, which of course led to my current voracious habits concerning books... And of course there are far too many books to name. But there was one series of books which had an unusual, long-lasting effect on our family.

They were the Old Mother West Wind books by Thornton W. Burgess, and reading them ( Read more... )

I’m not sure where winter went those last few days of January, but apparently April stepped in as a substitute. We had to get out into the woods while it was nice out, so we met my aunt and uncle and their dog for a hike at Weldon Spring Conservation Area. We often go there in early spring to see the wildflowers, but there’s a lot to see in the ( Read more... )