FIRST CHRISTMAS ©2014 By Rolland Love rtl@kc.rr.com The last sound I heard as I drifted off to sleep was the howling wind. In the middle of the night I was awakened by a scream from the back bedroom. My dog Trouser came over and licked my face. I sat up and draped a wool blanket around my shoulders. Then slid out of bed and walked across a cold hardwood floor. I found myself standing at the bedroom door. The scene was strange and scary, like something in a dream. Sitting on white wicker tables, one on each side of my mother and father’s bed, were ke ...continued...

We are watching the entire United States, but particularly the border states of New York, Connecticut, Maine, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Washington, for any activity relative to banning pesticides. [Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment, 2005 (pesticide/fertilizer lobbying group)] What are the final pieces in America’s multi-billion dollar “grass” trade industry? Weed control ordinances started appearing in the mid-1940s, and over the next fifty plus years they arose in practically every metropolitan area of the U.S. Within a remarkable unif ...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...

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My entire world changed, days before my eighth birthday. The years of pain and stress had taken its toll on my guardian angel. I awoke one morning to find her out of sorts. Something major was happening to her health. The last I remember of this time was trying to talk to her, but she had gone deaf. I watched her intently as she sat in front of her dressing table getting ready to go to the doctor. Little did I know that this would be the last time my guardian angel would be with me. My mother suffered a stroke, and was left paralysed the ...continued...

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Thanks for reading my story... Here I am again continuing about my story... After the we try to get back our relationship there is so many changes... I dont trust him anymore and there is always a doubt when it comes to him... After that I tried to be a good lover to him but it our relationship didn't work anymore... I decided to break up on him... How many days I feel so missing him, but I continue forgeting the things that we use to do... I'm very thankful to the music that I want listen and because of that music i learn to let go everything about him... But when we see each other he ...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...

I set my briefcase on my gritty kitchen counter and traced the raised gold lettering on the thick ivory card. “You are Invited to a Holiday Cookie Party,” the note read. The invitation was from a fascinating, creative, high–powered executive I had met several months ago. I was surprised and thrilled that she had invited me to such a gathering. Each woman would bring a batch of home-baked cookies, she wrote. We would then get to sample all the cookies and bring a bag of treats home to our families. I adored the idea of getting to bring my teenage dau ...continued...

Kissee Mills, MO. 1979 This is a story I tell over and over to my kids and grandkids. It's the story of a young man we met while camping in Missouri a long time ago. Kissee Mills is in Taney County and part of the Branson community. It was summer and we were looking for a new camp site. We stopped at a fork in the road that had a little shack that sold bait. A young boy probably about 12 or so asked us if we wanted a busy camp or a not busy camp. We said we wanted the not busy camp. He said to go down the road to the left. So we did. We set up camp and were sitting around the concret ...continued...

What in Sam Hill? We all know what it means, but where did the saying originate? Idioms, to make a long story short, are actually sensible nonsense, yet hit the nail on the head in a New York minute. We know what these phrases mean; we all use them. But where do these funny and nonsensical statements come from? Since when can you know the ropes, knock on wood, wag the dog, hold your horses, or go the whole nine yards and still know that you didn’t bite off more than you could chew. In my story, An Abduction Revelation, I used many idioms that we use in our every day conversations. ...continued...

Another thing I used to do quite often was to get a can of beans, some crackers and hike out to Julien Dubuque's grave. When there was a slow moving freight train going by, we would hop on and get off at Catfish Creek or town, depending which way we were going. I don't recall Mary ever doing this, but she could have. At Catfish, there is a small cave where we would warm up our beans and with the crackers have our lunch. We would always go up the path alongside the cliff to the grave. Now they have it blocked off because it is so dangerous which is OK a ...continued...

FRIDAY, JUNE 03, 2005 [first published] SLICK OUT "Here they come. You ever notice how kids and bovines travel in herds?" These were the last words I heard him say. Twenty minutes later the state of Missouri executed Richard Adrian Marsh. At 12:01 a.m. on December 1, 1997 he was pronounced dead. I met Richard Marsh when I was writing an article on the state's legal system for a Kansas City magazine. It had taken six months for him to agree to see me. What finally persuaded him was an article I'd written several years before while living in Florida. He was born in ...continued...

Today we hit 89 degrees, no, not the temperature but 89 degrees north. We are now a little less than one degree away from the North Pole. We have traveled over 60 miles north from our start point. Keep in mind, this does not include any traveling we did moving every other direction to get around open leads, ice boulder fields, or pressure ridges, needless to say we have accomplished alot in the past 6 days (or was it 7 days? Hard to keep track). We are expecting one resupply to get us more fuel and food for the dogs, but we have a great team and everyone is motivated to push hard and get to ...continued...

Right now im going to tell you my story from my perspective it started in 2006.It was my six birthday all my life i was a single child free to do as i please and get what i want but its suprized me how fast that could change.It all started with my moms friend coming to live with us her name was danielle it was a couple weeks after christmas when it happend i woke up to find my dad was gone in the middle of the night and my mom was sleeping i walked to the kitchen ...continued...