Janet's Blog

When I was a very little girl, I loved to eat a bowl of sliced bananas, sprinkled with a teaspoonful of sugar and drenched in fresh cream, straight from the separator. Bananas were cheap, and cream was plentiful, so it's no wonder I learned to love my bananas and cream. Years later, bananas are still inexpensive, still used as a loss leader in every grocery store in the USA. Perhaps you don't know what a "loss leader" is, and I certainly don't know why I remember such a trivial bit of vocabulary, but a loss leader is a product sold, at a loss, to attract customers. Store managers figured out, long ago, that people who go to a particular store to buy cheap bananas are very likely to buy other, more expensive groceries while they are at the store. It's been a long time since I enjoyed a simple bowl of sliced bananas and cream. The last time, after we left the farm, Mom poured a little half-and-half, a commercially produced mixture of milk and cream, from the...

Levi, Victoria, and I were outside, pulling weeds and shooting the breeze, when the tornado siren sounded at 5:30 on Monday afternoon. I had gone out a few minutes earlier to gather up any small items I could find, to put them away safely, in light of the pending storm. I yelled, "Everyone to the basement," and that's where we headed. I grabbed a radio and my phone on the way, and Victoria dashed upstairs to get her hamster, then rounded up the dog and cat, before making her way to the basement. Levi didn't argue, he just ran downstairs immediately. I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm.   Psalm 55:8 NIV Summer thunderstorms are very common here in Gering. They usually strike in the late afternoon, assaulting us with gusty wind and 20 minutes of torrential rain, generally amounting to a quarter of an inch of precipitation when all is said and done. Hail is not uncommon, but we grit our teeth before each storm, praying that any ha...

It was the first day of our vacation. While Andy toured Europe with a group of high school students, and Bill caught up with some work essentials, Meagan and I loaded our respective children into Bill's Ford Expedition for a trip across Nebraska to visit the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, and several Lincoln attractions, before heading down to Fairbury to spend a few days with my folks. We had stopped for lunch at Amigo's in Kearney, because it has been Meagan's favorite fast food stop since she was two years old. (The kids like it, too--really!) Then we headed to the park so the kids could run and play before we enforced nap time for the second half of our day's journey to Omaha. I dropped everyone off at the park and headed to the nearest gas station to fill up the tank and dispose of our trash. I was almost back to the park when my cell phone rang. It was Victoria, asking where I was and how soon I'd be back. Then, Meagan took the phone and said they would talk t...