Glad to have you back Amy Z!!!!

It's good to see Mr. Raymond is so free thinking at his age. I found his article to be something lower than "tripe". I haven't picked up a "reader" in a while and now I know why. The adds are still great but the writing has gone down hill on a one-sided slope.

Thanks for posting my toon online! You can see a full size version (maybe a little easier to read) at www.heidiblunt.com

What's with the Reader? One week the page listing for your column is incorrect. Last week, it listed a page number - and again your column wasn't there - nor, for that matter, was it ANYWHERE else in the Reader. What's going on there?

I am thinking that we need an alternative to Duluth's "alternative" rag. Writer friendly, writer focused, writer heavy, and just plain "righter"!! Phil

Agreed. The only sane, honest, down-to-earth and "with-it" local writer in the paper.

Question and requested advice from anyone: I am teaching a food science class in a high school and was thinking about using the first recipe as an experiment for the students. We are studying hydrolysis and the role heat, acid and enzymes have. I have only worked with traditional grocery ingredients in the past. Are these ingredients pretty commonly available? Do you think the dish would be palatable for today's teens"? Would you suggest adding any flavorings to improve the dish? 8-7-13

Someone once said something about keeping them [scammers, debt collectors] on the phone line, and saying to them "Hold on, I'm getting my details ready for you". Then just ignore the phone for like 15 minutes at a time.. telling them to "hold on" all the while ignoring the phone.

Just keep doing that to them. Tell them to ring tomorrow and repeat the process.

See how they like it. See how long they last doing what they do.

It's so interesting to hear you speak of your Dad. My Darlin' Daddy was a 'black-or-white' kinda guy. There never were any gray areas. Things were simply right or wrong, and if they concerned us....Woo-Hoo....they had better be right!
Darlin' Daddy could get pretty testy over politics. I remember how furious he would get when Jesse J would call for school boycotts to make a statement. Now that would REALLY get Darlin' Daddy's goad.
Darlin' Daddy didn't get *peppery* too often. He was never a swearing man......not ever, but when those icy eyes turned completely white.......let's just say they were a perfect indicator of when you had just gotten on his last nerve. LOL!
Miss him so desperately......these days, could sure use some of his amazing insight into goings on.
Thanks much for the memories.

My, we were so 'sheltered' in those days......not sure when I realized Santa lived only in hearts.
Christmas is my favorite season of the year. I know as a Christian, Easter *should be*, but I am ever partial to Christmas, despite the cold and merciless winds.
Perhaps that love springs from all the flocking and tinseling my own Mom did.....how well I remember trying to get all the Ivory Snow pictures off the front room windows. LOL! As impossible as it was, I still miss it.
One year, Mother even dyed the Ivory Snow pink. You can't tell how hard I am laughing over that one! But I am!
Then, when my own children arrived on the scene, I well remember the long hours of decorating till sometimes 6:00 A/M, and having the little ones up by 6:30 to wake us to see what Santa had done! (Good grief! How did we survive?)
Last year, my tree didn't make it. I did stick a pretty snowflake ornament to the front door glass......does that still count? LOL!
BTW, the ornament is still stuck to the front door glass.....it's too pretty to take down....and I'd just have to put it back up again this year anyway.......can't get away with that with the tree.....I know I would try if I could......
Hey......maybe I can buy ornaments for every holiday....leave the tree up, and just change out ornaments every few months......could work.....
Like you, the best part of the season is now being in touch with others I love. I don't send cards any more. If I haven't spoken to you for *eons*....why send a card. I make it a point to phone those I haven't seen for a while....or talked to. It seems far more appropriate these days than a card......

Both lead and mercury are wafting around in older rifle ranges. Bullets used to contain mercury as well. But another thing worth mentioning is that the area around Newtown has a history of mercury pollution. Newtown was once called Hattertown. The area around Danbury, Connecticut, was well-known for its felt-making industry. Mercury was used in that area until the 1940s when laws were passed to forbid the use of mercury in felt making.

My husband purchased "A Loon In the Kitchen" in Bayfield, WI for my graduation gift. (AAS Culinary Arts from Le Cordon Bleu, Chicago - 1999)

I still love it and it's now in our 3rd home.

Thank you so much!

Great, article lookin forward to listening to this album over and over again. For the record though, Jacob Green, doesn't play dobro in the song "Ain't no sense," it's a banjo song, "Travelin' Soul" is a dobro song. "Down in the Dirt," was a song long worked and brought forward after he wrote "The March" song, for the March against Monsanto this past April 2013. Which if you like songs more on a politically based or environmental rights, to take a look at the aptly named "The March" album, which features "The March," along with other more Eco-groovy style songs, www.jacobgreen.bandcamp.com. It's always nice to see the evolution of Jacob Green's music progress over the years.

Ok Amy... Ready for another column... :)

I must admit, that Jonathan Thomas is an excellent bass player. He is a real dedicated and talented musician. Check out his website at www.jonthanthomas-bg.com.

Ed is on Medicare; why does he care?

Joe Carter is my grandson, he is an awesome player. It is to bad that UMD is not taking him, but we are certain a school will be very interested in him. He is not only a good football player, he is also a great baseball player.
Grandparents
Canby, Oregon

It's too bad that you are still dwelling on your experience at UWS that you have to make fun of other peoples' achievements, only because yours didn't work out for you. You mean to tell me you had to go through your last two years of college all by yourself with no guidance or support? You must not have gotten the memo at orientation that someone should be holding your hand the whole way through college and someone will always guide you and tell you which direction to choose. Well enjoy your ketchup packets.

FYI the letter was asking for a donation to the Foundation Superior Fund, not to any one student in particular.

Really Brave of you to be making threats to a female college student. P.S. maybe if you didn't live in LA you could afford to to eat more than just Ketchup.

I grew up in the sixties and seventies. Even if JFK was shot by a conspiracy organization or powers that be, we can still make a difference by the way he affected us. He single-handedly made me an idealist and a game changer in my community. Now I am 53 and his life drove me to stand up for the poor and disenfranchised and to care about my government. The powers that be can't ruin the incentive of the common man.