What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope
What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope
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As we move towards the spring weather, still being hounded with snow … It’s that time of year when Coloradoans are reminded that we live in an extraordinary state, with extraordinary weather and the need for proper equipment and precautions never goes away. We all have budgets and wish to be fiscally responsible. I see long lines at the tire shops nearing the end of April and moving into May as people are quick to remove those snow tires and save the tread for next season. While I like this idea and support the decision to use quality tir...
I am constantly amazed by animals. Their superior intelligence is a constant wonder to me. I keep trying to figure out just where we humans went wrong. We probably started out as smart as other creatures. Somewhere along the way our group began to fall behind. Recently I made a startling discovery that reminded me of this. The day began like most late spring, early summer days. I awoke about daylight, consumed enough coffee to get my heart pumping, pulled on my boots and headed outdoors. After...
The first three books of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) are known as the Synoptic gospels. They are broadly related and represent a unified historical approach for many. Similar theological themes connect them in forming a floor for scriptural understanding. The life and times of Jesus are laid out, to the extent we know them and the narratives and parallels between the three gospels are reassuring to hang our hats on. As a collection, they could easily have been titled, “New T...
You probably already guessed that cool-season crops benefit the most from partial shade. But why is shade more beneficial to some vegetables than others? There are two reasons. One, shade keeps the the leafy vegetables such as kale, lettuce, and spinach more tender. With less sunlight, the plants will not grow to the same size as they would with more sun. Naturally, the more sun, the more energy and photosynthesis the plant produces. What is partial shade in terms of hours of sun per day? Partial shade is less than six hours of sun but a...
Spirituality and numbers make for uneasy companions when it comes to relative importance in the life of the church. Most people disavow a dependency on numbers as a reflection of how well a church is doing. Deep down they know better, but neither will any church turn away numbers of people if they appear at the doorsteps of the church. To say a church is accomplishing all it can as justified by head counts, is an afront to the Word. In years of participation in church, I have encountered...
If today’s title seems a bit indecisive, trust me, you got it right! The seasons have been a little hard to identify here on the Hodgson Ranch. The year, like everyone else’s began with January, followed by February, both supposed to be identified by cold days. We had 50 to 70 degree days instead. Guess we just got our months mixed up. Next came March, usually the spring door opener. This year it featured a mixture of some freezing nights and 70 degree days. Must not be spring after all, I tho...
Letter to the Editor, Hello, I am Darrell Smith, currently employed with the Haxtun Police Department, and I am here to announce my intention to run for the office of Phillips County Sheriff in this year's special election. I want to become the Sheriff for Phillips County so that I may continue to do what I have done the majority of my life, which is serve. I come from a long line of United States Service members. I myself Served in the United States Navy, serving through Sept. 11 and was part of the first Expeditionary Strike Group as a...
You can take the boy out of the country but ... you can’t teach him how to drive in the big city. It seemed like a simple task. All I had to do was attend a meeting in lower downtown Denver. LoDo, they call the area. Before this project was over, I’d re-named it. Over the phone the directions seemed easy enough. I-25 south to Speer, Speer to 15th, left on 15th, etc, etc. It couldn’t be any harder than directions in our town. You know, left at the grain elevator, go down the street to where...
Despite snow and cold this week, the end of the school year is fast approaching. It is a time of expectation, for things completed and a future waiting on the near horizon. Everything is measured by graduation and family gatherings. Future plans often hang out in the mailbox disguised as acceptance or rejection letters while other students join the working world post haste. It is a mostly heady time, filled with optimism and confidence. The highlight is the conferring of degrees to eager...
“How can such tiny seed produce such beautiful results?” It is a question we ask multiple times each year as bedding plants move from the catalog pages to peat starter cups to transplanted wonders. A few grow lights, plentiful water, and a can-do attitude contribute to a successful start to the gardening season. Thank goodness for LED lighting that has helped curb the expense of starting seedlings in the dead of winter. Unfortunately, it grants even greater license to plant even more. Many see...
When my wife moved to Colorado years ago from extreme Southeastern Kansas, she remembers expecting everyone to be packing a six shooter, riding horses and living in the Wild West she’d always heard about. Some new arrivals, I’m told, still expect a little less civilization than they find. If they look hard enough, though, they can still find many of us carrying on the traditions of our Western heritage. I’m here to tell you, however, it is darn hard to be a cowboy in Colorado. Cattlemen, farme...
What do you do when there is “nothing” to do? Well, my solution is to pick up the “Docket Gold” yellow pad, find my uni-ball ink pen and start writing “Under The Wire!” Surprisingly within minutes I will have half of a page of sentences about … nothing. I have always heard that everybody is good at something. I seem to be the exception with my “good at nothing” skills! I probably don’t have much competition at my “doing nothing,” proving that most people are good at … something! I might want to consider offering classes on “How to do not...
No doubt about it, many of us are entering the “ology” time of our lives when days are measured by medical appointments, future appointments, and mileage markers. Aside from costs of travel and wear and tear on vehicles, most of us are able to say that it is a good thing to entertain the “ologies” as needed. They certainly seem to roll off the tongue in easy enough fashion: cardiology, neurology, ophthalmology, epidemiology, urology, all layered and folded into innocent enough sounding titles of providers like internists, D.O.s, M.D.s, P.A.s.,...
Are you chomping at the bit to get started with the vegetable garden? Don’t be too anxious. When was the last time you did a soil test of your vegetable garden soil? If you haven’t had it done for several years, this is a good time to do it. Then you will know what elements are needed to keep your plants healthy. Then, be sure you know the frost-free date in your area. Go to this link: https://www.weather.gov/wrh/climate and then go to select location inside a blue box and then go to select first/last dates. These are the first and last fre...
Although I am less optimistic, I still hold out hope that Colorado isn’t irretrievably doomed to follow California, Oregon and Washington into the hopeless abyss of Progressivism. A few key indicators will soon reveal if we have passed the point of no return, including whether enough common-sense Democrats remain to stand with Republicans against the Far Left’s relentless assault on our Second Amendment rights. Senate Bill 131 would prohibit licensed concealed-carry permit holders from car...
We all hope to remain healthy and independent throughout our lives – but life can be unpredictable. If you were ever to need some type of long-term care, would you be financially prepared? Long-term care encompasses everything from the services of a home health aide to a stay in an assisted living facility to a long residence in a nursing home. You may never need any of these kinds of care, but the odds aren’t necessarily in your favor: Someone turning age 65 today has almost a 70 percent cha...
Several years ago, when I was given the opportunity to write a few columns for a big city newspaper, I was informed by the editorial board this would probably not lead to a career writing for them. No commitment beyond a few weeks. No job security. I respected them for being so up front about our employment agreement. Others should be so honest. Were you, a family member or friend until recently employed by an airline? How about an up and coming dot com or major corporation? I’ve never been r...
A family member completed her PhD requirements this week, successfully defending five years of reading, research and data gathering while suffering the occasional indignities that accompany any graduate program and its institutional biases. That has not changed much over the decades. The “good ol’ boy network” is alive and well, but progress is progress any way we measure it. A three-and-a-half-decade gap separates her graduate experience from my own. The most significant change during that...
Why is it that we are so surprised when inspiration and goodwill collide to produce something good? There are numbers of individuals across our community that are doing amazing work in support of worthwhile projects. It is an important observation to make as harder times continue to spiral for many people. One hopeful potential calls for the human spirit to focus on the best of who we are in contrast to the panoply of seemingly unresolvable conflicts worldwide. If we are intent to expend...
Spring is almost here, which means it’s time for some spring cleaning. This year, in addition to tidying your home and surroundings, you might want to consider sprucing up your financial environment, as well. Here are some suggestions for doing just that: • Improve your vision. Once the days are warmer and longer, you may want to get outside and clean all the winter grime and smudges from your windows, allowing you to see the world more clearly. And you may want to bring more focus to your fin...
If you live in the country you probably share a bond with everyone else who lives outside city limit signs. This common denominator is the lowly mailbox. Since prehistoric times (which means longer than I can remember) the mailbox has been our link with the outside world. Unlike our city friends, rural mailboxes have character. In town, a mailbox may be just a slot in the front door or a metal box on the front porch. Country mailboxes have character. Mailboxes are a sentry assigned to a lonely...
Of all the “doms” out there, kingdom, freedom, maximum, on and on, boredom is the one kicking my rear right now! It is 69 degrees right now, frozen stock tanks are off the list as are shutting down the lawn sprinklers and plugging in the big John Deere so it will start when the time comes to feed the cows. The cows, who by the way have so much winter grass to graze down, probably won’t need fed until mid-July! Fortunately, my “fall back” activity is writing these “Under The Wire” columns, an act...
Overwhelming is only one of many descriptors assigned to the world today. News images and stories are at times both horrific and disappointing. We face the stark fact that in successive generation after generation, our current setting is largely the best we can muster. It leaves us bewildered and notably discouraged. If we want a better world, we’ll have to start over with the small stuff, like being kind to one another or going out of our way more frequently than we have in the past, though i...
Birds have different niches in which each family of birds needs shelter and food. The key to developing great habitats for birds is to have a diversity of specific plants for the types of birds that visit your yard. It doesn’t require scrapping what you already have in your landscape. It just means adding a tree or shrub(s) or herbaceous perennials. Besides adding plants to your landscape, the more bugs, the more birds as author Sally Roth states in her book Bird-By-Bird Gardening. This means pesticides that kill bugs, kill birds. The A...
Remember when Democrats fiercely defended freedom of speech and freedom of expression with few limitations? That was when Colorado Democrats still had to compete with Republicans for statewide elected offices and legislative majorities. Having grasped the political upper hand, Democrats are now sadly in thrall to Progressivism and its requisite censorship of dissenters. Instead of proclaiming, “I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it,” Democrats at o...
