Staying home alone was popular long before the movie. In the country, when there were only two choices: a. go fishing with my parents until the wee hours of the morning, or b. stay home alone, I pretty much always chose to stay home alone. I needed my alone time since much of the fishing trips were about my Mom and Dad gritching at each other over which eddy to fish or how going to shore was too costly to the numbers of fish to be caught. Staying home alone meant that i could listen to the Whiper Will without interruption. The frog ...continued...

I have been a certified nursing assistant (CNA) for the past 6 years. I have many responsibilities as a CNA regarding all patient’s physical, emotional, and mental well-being. I am expected to handle culture and religion issues with respect, kindness, and understanding. I have been in situations where my clients believes in a different religion then I do, and they contact my boss to tell them that that they don’t want me to be there caregiver anymore due to differences in religion. As a CNA I recognize and believe that spiritual beliefs are different, in which r ...continued...

It must have been the wet rainy day that drove me to my cleaning frenzy. “Time to clean out the closets”, I thought to myself. After all, the holidays are quickly approaching and the house will be full of out of town guests! Little did I know that my cluttered closets would open the doors to so many memories tucked away. Amidst the boxes of papers and old framed pictures was a box of various trinkets, cards and perfumes from my mother. Sighing, I remembered this would be the ninth winter without her. I picked up the nearly dried ...continued...

Our cooking today is so much different from days gone by. When my granddaughter was three, she stood in front on my oven door where a whole chicken baked in a glass pan. With wide eyes she said, "Is that a chicken?" You see, her mother only bought chicken parts. She'd never seen a whole chicken. How different from when I was a child. Below is a recollection when I visited Grandma at about age five. I've included it in my cookbook Family Favorites from the Heartland. Fried Chicken-Grandma’s Style During the late 40s and e ...continued...

In order to ward off boredom on a solo trip from Kansas City to Denver, I jotted sights that caught my eye on the steering wheel. At my destination, I turned my scribbles into a poem. I don't recommend writing on the steering wheel--but in Kansas there's not much else going on. KANSAS CITY TO DENVER RUN My Grand AM and I off on early grey dawn journey to a writers conference through short rolling velvet fields shrouded in puffs of fog on I-70. Topeka gas station, fill Betsy's tan ...continued...

They're making people everyday, but they ain't makin' any more dirt. (Will Rogers) Trespassers will be shot or worse In July 2015 the United Nations estimated a global population of 7.349 billion people. Right now (2016) we are currently at 7.4 billion and increasing. In 1700, only 316 years ago, the human population of the entire planet was approximately 600 million. In what we now call the United States the population (Europeans) was approximately 250,000 people. The industrial revolution in Europe wouldn't begin for another 80 years ...continued...

I was born, I saw, and I was conquered. Trying to unconquer myself. Thank you. Tommy H. Birk. In Jasper, INDIANA! ...continued...

One of my chief delights in the warm months is watching the hummingbirds that flock to our feeder. They cluster around the feeder, competing for the nectar it provides, swapping out places at the feeding stations. They're always pretty competitive, even if there are only two at the feeder at the time. I wonder that they don't get hurt as they dive down at each other. The competitiveness rivals that of ten year old boys on the playground, only the hummers are in a fight for life-sustaining resources instead of the top of the climbing bars. Sometimes I count as many as ten or fifte ...continued...

GHOSTBUSTERS …If there’s something strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call? If there’s something weird and it don’t look good, who you gonna call?…Ghostbusters. In the middle of the night my wife, Karen, heard a loud bump. She awoke to see a ghostly figure of a man standing next to the staircase. He was wearing a biker’s outfit with a yellow bandanna wrapped around his head. “Tom,” she shouted, waking me up. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “There is a man standing next to the stairs,” she gasped. ...continued...

I understand why people say, “Paybacks are a bitch!” It’s tough work to pay back someone in your life who has been giving to you since you were born. You see, when I came into this world, I came in having two mothers. And it seems like these two old ladies sure know the ropes because they got me hopping around like a chicken with her head cut off paying them back big time. By the time I clean up the kitchen from breakfast dishes, and whatnot, I’m setting the table back up because these two old gals are sitting at the table again ...continued...

{This article was written in 2007, a year before the collapse of global capitalism. Los Afectados first appeared in the Kansas City Star.} The beginning The oil field is named Ispingo-Tiputino-Tambococha, a Quechua word. Quechua was the language spoken by the people that lived in the region now called Ecuador, long before the Spaniards arrived in search for gold, glory and God. The Spaniards that trudged up the Andes Mountains in the 16th century were not the effete from the court of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, but hardened peasants in search of th ...continued...

As Mark Twain once said, “there has never been an uninteresting life.” Hi Rolland,
Wanted to let you know that I have gotten your cousin Wave started writing her life story. I just have a few pages going but that is a start, isn't it? I thought I would send them to you when I get further along, this way you can tell me if ...continued...

THE MAGNIFICIENT MENTOR The notice in the church bulletin read, “Anyone interested in writing, meet in room 312 on Tuesday night. Bring some writing to share.” My heart skipped a beat. I had prayed about how I might start to write about the experience our family had been through with our daughter and her spinal cord tumor. And now, here was an answer. I had written poetry f ...continued...

On the fiesta day, We drink all day and we sing and talk so many things about ourself about his life my life and everything... And on that day we officially make ou relationship Official...=) I'm so happy to be with him infact he make me smile and love by him... I know deep inside my heart my happiness right now will end but not instantly... and time passes by we fall we take our time more... After those months I discover his attitude his lifestyle and meet his friends and family... And to be corrected I meet his loving wife also... yeah... He have his nice wife... But his wife don ...continued...

This story involves a number of ficticous characters most of whom you will recognize on site if you are part of the group. As I pulled out of the driveway and headed for CHWC a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) community development corporation dedicated to improving the quality of life in downtown KCK which is located in Fire Station No. 9 that’s at 2 South 14th Street in Kansas City, Kansas and was built by Willian E. Harris over 100 years ago and declared a <a href="http://en.wikip ...continued...