Opinion

Warning: contains warm sappy thoughts about a dog... Yesterday we put the website to a sort of test, asking for help in locating our dog. Thanks to everyone's help we were able to locate him within a couple hours of the e-mail being sent out! We had comments sent in with information about him and a detailed phone call, thanks to everyone who had spotted him and told us about it! It's amazing how big a dog can look when he's trying to crawl up in your lap, or when he's putting his head on your lap for attention, or he's nudging your elbow while you are trying to type stories on your computer and how annoying he can be when he wants you to just touch him so he can sleep on the floor at your feet.

  By Robert Spangler Iowa Council of the United Blind      Few people think about students' rights - especially those of the disabled.      Parents take it for granted that school officials will do what is best for their child.  However, most parents are not told the full choices their child may have, especially when those choices involve a blind or visually impaired child.

      Water pump (I think) for a tractor.     Fuel pump (I think) from a similar machine.     Lid for a tool box.     The rest of the tool box.     Iron pipe, male thread.     Stove pipe.     Muffler, or part of one, for something.

Gas is going up...not news. Groceries are going up, shouldn't be news. Everything else is following...news I hate. I have to admit, when it comes to saving money, I know how to do it, usually. I remember the good old days when I could go to Aldis, fill up the back of my Suburban, which I could afford to drive, and get back home for under $200.

       Loyal readers of my columns (all three of them) may remember reading some of these words back in January, when gas was "only" $3.09 per gallon....     At $3.09 per gallon, politicians were doing nothing about higher gas prices. They were even saying nothing. The media, too. Nothing. But as we see gas prices rise toward the $3.

I remember the days, a looooong time ago that we had the fun job of picking out baby names. We had always talked about names we'd use, we loved certain ones, and tossed them around before we needed them.  Then they kinda grew on us, and it was a given what names we'd use.  Now, we tried to pick out names that had a good meaning to them.

       "Put your 'John Henry' here."      My dad used to say that.      I used to think he was the only one.      But I have heard that phrase twice in recent weeks from people who never met my dad.     They, of course, were referring to a signature, basing the phrase on a man whose signature is a big part of American history.

       For many people, there are places, or dates, that they will always remember.      The park where you hit your first home run.      The place you were standing when you heard that JFK had been shot.      The date you met your husband or wife.

        I was, by chance, one of the first people to complete all the holes of the 2011 Vinton Unlimited Mini-Masters.      Or as golfers as bad as I am should call it, the Mini-Mediocres, at best.       I shot a 90; which is not-so-good on the big golf course. It's basically lousy for miniature golf.

Just last night my phone rang, and something happened that wouldn't have happened 10 years ago. My sister called me on her way home from work... Then we started discussing technology.  I explained that yesterday was entertaining.  While working on the website, I was helping one of my daughters with their multiplication and division, and texting, e-mailing, popping into facebook as well as creating ads.