A Thanksgiving request

Sunday I was building 1A at the newspaper when we got word of breaking news. I began reworking the page as more details came in.

There will be four empty chairs at somebody's Thanksgiving table today. A father, a mother and their two tiny children, 4 and 2, were found dead from apparent carbon monoxide poisoning. They didn't have electricity and were using a borrowed generator to stay warm. As the story progressed into Monday, we learned the lone survivor of this young family was a 6-year-old who had been staying with her grandmother during the weekend.

On Wednesday, our reporters covered two fatal accidents -- two more empty chairs in the blink of an eye.

In my job we see some good, but we also see a lot of sad and bad. I don't want to be a downer on this holiday, but I want to make a request because you are all important to me. Please be careful, please seek help if you need it, please take care of each other and please hug the ones you love.

I wish you all a blessed and safe Thanksgiving.

Food for thought

A conversation via text message:
Me: The CEO of Freedom is resigning to become the CEO of Playboy. Thought you'd appreciate that.
Him: That's f***ing cool!!!!!!!
Me: Porn is probably more stable work than papers right now.
Him: And pays a hell of a lot more as well ...

What this country needs is

a little more common sense, a little less panic and a whole lot more personal responsibility.

Mom's good advice

At a very rough time in my life, my mom sent me a card with these words: "Don't forget, you are stronger than you think you are." And she was right.

Plink, plunk

I'm playing with answering prompts at www.plinky.com to get over some writer's block.

When I started using the Internet

I learned a few computer basics in high school and college, but didn't get online until I met my future husband. He had a smoking hot Tandy TRS-100 (an example of this modern technology: http://oldcomputers.net/index.html) Seems like we spent days on the local BBS chat. We really thought we were computer geeks when we got a Tandy desktop with external 300 baud modem. And when we bumped up to 1200 baud, we were hauling butt! Now I whine that the cable modem is soooo slow.

What is wrong with people?

This story about an elderly man freezing to death in his own home infuriated me. Locally, a cancer patient on disability had her water cut off over $26. Yet they take a $1 "donation" on my water bill for parks. Where is the compassion and common decency?

Not enough in American newspapers

Newspaper claims suspect transformed into a goat. Maybe this explains why newspapers are struggling in the U.S. We need more magic -- or maybe more goats.

Rational thinking

Psychology giant Albert Ellis died this week. I attended one of his speeches in the early 1990s. At the time I was thinking of adding a degree in psychology to my mass communication degree. He was under the weather with a cold, but he gave a wonderful talk and even lead us in a song about "stinking thinking." I bought one of his books and he patiently autographed dozens that day. I still haven't mastered his rational approach, but I did agree with much of what he said. I highly recommend the book below.

Surely a sign of the apocalypse

Spice Girls reunite. And now of got that stupid lover song stuck in my head.

No neighbors

When I hit the lottery, (no rich relatives and a pitiful savings, so it's going to have to be the lotto) I'm going to buy 1,000 acres (preferably in the Hill country or other green Southern area) and build a house in the middle of it and then build a moat around it (piranhas and alligators optional). We'll only lower the drawbridge for people we like. I'm just saying...

Thinning the herd No. 5

Man steals venomous snakes, gets bit. Brilliant

Thinning the herd No. 4

Man falls off balcony in spitting contest.

He'd be stylin'

and profilin'. Now I just need to find one of those belts.

From the "Complete Guide to Modern Knitting and Crocheting" by Alice Carroll, published 1942.

I'm just saying ...

You would think educators would be smarter than this: Teachers stage fake gun attack on kids

Thinning the herd No. 3

aka those bars are there for a reason
You know it's not going to end well when a story has lead like this: Climbing into a giraffe's cage at the local zoo seemed a good idea after a few drinks.

Hope springs eternal

The cukes may be toast, but the tomatoes, rosemary and at least one of the peppers have survived.

I'm just saying

I have no problem with a man in a kilt. Kilts can be sexy. But Target man in the black utilikilt just say no to the Hawaiian shirt and faux Birkenstocks next time. I'm just saying ...

Happy Happy Birthday, Baby

All my love --
past, present and future.

Dream deferred

Saturday we hit the grand opening of a new garden store. I had been toying with the idea of little vegetable container garden. Good potting soil, two different types of tomato plants, lemon cucumbers, mexibell peppers and rosemary followed me home. A little bit of time playing in the dirt and voila a tiny garden was born. They looked a little shell-shocked at first. But Day 2 the rains came and all the leaves perked up and I could see the salad of red, green and gold coming my way.

Only to wake up on Day 5 to hail bouncing off the windows, which resulted in bright green leaves and stalks metamorphosing into broken stalks with a few pathetic remnants of green. I hoping for a miracle.