This past weekend Don and I drove to our neighboring state of Illinois1 to attend a wedding anniversary celebration2 of long time friends. As we were driving along Interstate 803, I noticed a big sign advertising a well-known restaurant chain4. This chain of restaurants is found all over the U.S, but it does not serve [...]
Comfort Food
March 18th, 2009 by huffmansMushrooms on Your Menu
March 18th, 2009 by huffmans When you choose to dine at The Holiday Inn1 you have quite a number of options2 to suit your taste3. One thing you might not be fully aware of4 is the number of different kinds of mushrooms which find their way into our culinary selections5 from time to time.
Mycophagy6 or the preparation [...]
Sweatshirts[1]
March 17th, 2009 by huffmansIt’s now sweatshirt and sweater2 weather. It happened this week. On Tuesday the weather was so mild3 that we broke the weather record4 for the date of the 28th (Don’s birthday). When friends came for dinner and to celebrate with us, one of the big topics of conversation was how warm it had been that [...]
Buying a Car & The World’s Economic Problems
March 17th, 2009 by huffmansWell, our buying a car is not really an important part of the world’s economic problems, but like most Americans, we have been mostly unconcerned about the cost of operating automobiles, both in an economic and an environmental sense1. In our defense2, our small town of Pella has no public transportation within the city [...]
The Battle of the Bottle and War on Waste
March 17th, 2009 by huffmans Today one of our errands1 will be to return pop cans and bottles2 to our city can and bottle recycling center3. We usually wait until we have one or two large plastic garbage bags4 filled with the cans and bottles, and then take them there. We need to make the trip soon.
When we get [...]
Private Property and Personal Rights
March 17th, 2009 by huffmansMany of our international friends who come to Pella, or any other area in the United States, tell us that they hesitate1 to walk through areas between houses because they believe that property owners2 will “shoot them”3 or at least object to their walking across private lawns and between houses. Actually, this is a [...]
Garbage In - Garbage Out
March 17th, 2009 by huffmansLast week was “Cleanup Week1” in Pella, where we live. There are two Clean Up Weeks, one fall, and one spring in Pella. Normally, one day of every week the Pella waste disposal trucks2 haul3 away garbage from residences to the regional landfill4. Paper, bottles and cans are recycled5 on the same days. Other waste [...]
The Windmill by Kenneth Weller
March 17th, 2009 by huffmansToday I have a guest blogger1. He is Dr. Kenneth Weller, retired president2 of Central College3. He is a good representative4 of what many of us Americans do after we retire5: we volunteer6 in different ways to help different organizations in which we have an interest. He will now explain his volunteerism7.
I am a volunteer [...]
Meals on Wheels
March 17th, 2009 by huffmansThis past week Don and I have been participating1 in a community service program2 known as “meals on wheels3.” As volunteers in this program we have been delivering noontime meals to elderly people who can no longer easily prepare them4 for themselves. Some of them are even confined to5 wheel chairs6.
The food is prepared7 in [...]
Tailgating
March 17th, 2009 by huffmansIn some cases I have very much enjoyed the activity of tailgating1, but in many other cases I find it very irritating2. It depends on how the word is being defined. The verb, describing two very different activities, comes from a noun which was first used in 1868, at which time it was defined [...]