Janet's Blog

It's been 50 years since the first Earth Day burst onto the scene. 50 years! I remember the first one, because all of the students at Fairbury High School were allowed to wear jeans to school that day (!) and we were dismissed for the afternoon, assigned in groups of three or four to pick up trash in a particular part of town. I was with two or three other Freshman girls, working along Highway 136, just a couple of blocks from where my folks live now. It was a gorgeous, sunny, spring day, a perfect day to walk and talk to our friends as we worked, interrupted only when a passing motorist stopped to ask for directions to Highway 72. (As I recall, Carla, the most outgoing one of our group, informed him that we had no idea where to find Highway 72, since none of us were old enough to drive.) The trash we picked up that day was a little different from the trash I pick up when I walk in Gering now, five decades later. There were plenty of candy wrappers then, and way too many ciga...

It was just after Christmas when I decided, seemingly on a whim, to order myself The One Year Bible from Amazon. Since I wanted large print, I had only two choices of versions. I certainly didn't want the King James Version, so I settled, somewhat reluctantly, on the New Living Translation. I was excited to start reading as soon as we returned from our after-Christmas trip to Fairbury, so I was only a day late getting started. For those of you who are unfamiliar with The One Year Bible , it is the entire Bible broken down into daily readings, one each from the Old Testament and the New Testament, as well as a daily segment from the Psalms and a verse or two from Proverbs. I've read the entire New Testament several times before, sometimes in one sitting, and I read the Old Testament all the way through when I was taking Bible classes in college, but I have never before used this format, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I have found the NLT to be exceedingly readable...

The last couple of weeks have been emotionally challenging, and not only on the home front, where Levi has been making some changes with his school schedule and overall attitude, and Victoria is needing some motivation to accept more adult responsibilities. We are all aware of yet another school shooting, in Florida this time, and the inevitable aftermath of finger-pointing, as people try to determine who they should blame. Then, the Olympics have just finished, not dominated by the U.S. this time, but still thought-provoking and often fun to watch--even the Curling. So much of our American culture is centered on our children, and their sports activities and education. School is intense, much harder than it used to be, because there is so much more to learn, and so many more tests to take. In a society where children continue to have a variety of interests and abilities, and where they all learn at different rates, it seems as though many school administrators have taken the attitude...

When I was born, Dwight D. Eisenhower was the 34th president of the United States. Even as a young child, I knew that he was the president, and I had a somewhat vague idea of his job description. I knew that he was worthy of my respect because all of the adults I knew spoke of him in a respectful way. Since then, ten more presidents have come and gone, and number 45 sits in the White House now. For the most part, I have respected our presidents, even when I haven't always agreed with all of their policies. Some presidents have done a better job than others, although U.S. citizens have not always concurred about which presidents were most effective. My whole life, though, I have believed strongly that our country is, indeed, led by a person we call the president. Even now, for better or worse, I believe that Donald Trump is the president of our country. I know what he looks like. I know about his policies. But, I don't know him personally and, quite frankly, as with most ...

We awoke to fog today, but as soon as it dissipated, the sky was a beautiful shade of blue, with no clouds in sight. It was a bit different from the forecast of 20-40% clouds, but no one was complaining. We didn't complain, either, about the lack of wind, or the temperatures in the upper seventies. After all the hype, the big day had finally arrived. It promised to be a perfect day for an eclipse. Getting ready I remember, years ago, when I was still in grade school, viewing a partial eclipse through a pinhole in a shoe box. I was not impressed. I couldn't help but wonder if our new eclipse glasses would be any better.     Let me just say that the eclipse glasses were wonderful! After taking the first look through his eclipse glasses, Levi declared that the sun looked just like a cookie with a bite taken out of it. Our view of each stage of the eclipse was crisp and clear. Even the little ones could see what was happening, although they probably didn't completely...

In case you've been hiding under a rock, I want to make sure you know that the eclipse is coming. THE ECLIPSE! You know, next Monday's nearly sacred event, when the moon will blot out the sun for two whole minutes, give or take a few seconds--that is, if you live along the path that bisects the U.S. from coast to coast. I live right on the path. Here in Gering, in the Nebraska panhandle, we can expect about a minute and a half of total eclipse, with partial eclipse lasting for more than an hour on either side of the 11:49 a.m. magic minute. A few miles north of us, people will experience two and a half minutes of totality.  Click here to see exact starting and ending times for our area. It's exciting, for sure. The last time a total eclipse bisected the US from the Pacific to the Atlantic was 99 years ago, in 1918. Since then, there have been a couple of total solar eclipses that covered far fewer states, and several more partial eclipses, but nothing like thi...

It has become apparent, over the past year or so, that our nation has developed a deep, deep rift, split right down the middle between liberals and conservatives, city dwellers and rural citizens, "haves" versus "have-nots," Christians against non-Christians. This week's presidential inauguration, with its surrounding events, both official and non-official, and the inevitable biased media coverage, both conservative and liberal, have only magnified the unrest that is so prevalent in our country right now. Unfortunately, there seem to be a significant number of people who are doing their best to widen the existing chasm that is separating our beloved America into a mess of fractured camps. On so many levels, it is "us against them," and if you don't believe exactly as we do, you can't possibly be one of us. But, when it comes right down to it, the multitudes of factions are more alike than different. Most groups include law abiding citizens ...