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Reindeer Hooves
Like anyone else with children, I love to see the wonder in their eyes at the magic of Christmas. I remember being young, believing in Santa, and enjoying waking up on Christmas with mysterious...
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Cough Syrup
I often develop a cough this time of the year. I have ever since I had a run-in with a pack of coyotes when I was trying to save a cow and her calf. I had to carry the calf and run, and we barely...
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Catch a Clue
Caleb was a friendly teenager. But the one thing that seemed to set him apart from other boys his age was that he got hints girls gave that other boys didn’t get. Face it, girls often say and do things...
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Quit Worrying
One day, someone asked Lane why he seemed to excel at his engineering work. Lane smiled. “Years ago, my father taught me a simple but important lesson.” Lane told how he had worked hard going through...
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The Haircut
Vince and Mary were excited to get married and start their life together. They were very much in love and had lots of dreams for their future. But as plans usually work out, reality set in with the...
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The Questionable Alexa
Computer-assisting devices are getting to be the norm. When my wife asked me if I wanted to get one, I told her that if a machine could look up information when a person asked for it, it could also...
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Hauling Calves
The weather around here has been horrible. A considerable amount of snow fell on Saturday. I got on our ATV and shoved snow all over the place. I’m thankful for the ATV and grateful to those who used...
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Negotiating With a Moose
We live a couple of miles from the river and a couple of miles in the other direction from land run by the Bureau of Land Management. Between the two, the deer and antelope roam. Well, not so much the...
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Turkey Sweaters
John was new to the wide-open country of the west. He had spent his life in a large city and couldn’t wait for this new experience. He had dreamed of getting away to the country and having his own...
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The Power of a Puppy
Many years ago, our golden retrievers had puppies. The puppies were fun bundles of fluff. The mother dog was not the best mother, and she often forgot to climb in with them and feed them. I would get...
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Something to Do
Dean was retiring, and he was looking forward to all the free time he would have. He had worked hard all of his life, providing a good living for his family, but now it would be his time. He was going...
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What Students Learned in Math Class 2023
Over the years, I have found that one of the students’ greatest criticisms of any math class is their claim that they didn’t learn anything. Therefore, sometimes as part of their final, I have the...
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A Plumber
Our daughter, Clarissa, called me. “Dad, would it bother you if I became a plumber?” “Why would that bother me?” I asked. “Well, I thought it might after all those years of education if I just set it...
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Fire Alarms
I had been running lights for some of the theatre productions in the community. It all started when a group was going to do a show at a city-owned facility, and they didn’t have staff to run the lights...
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Tough Parents
Out of the blue, an old friend, Randy, called me. It was a couple of days before Mother’s Day, and he seemed to have been thinking about his mother and mine, who had both passed away. He didn’t say...
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Tuba Bath
Zack had mostly played percussion in high school, dabbling in the tuba a bit. When he graduated, he made his career repairing band instruments. He learned to play just about everything to a minor...
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Goats and Grass
I have been busy building us a new house that will be good for our retirement years. With the struggle to get materials during COVID, it has taken me a lot longer than expected. Meanwhile, I have been...
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Permission, Sir
Merrill hadn’t been back to the army camp long before everyone was summoned to line up for roll call. He had just been heading to the restroom when the call came, but he rushed to his place in line,...
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The Bulls are Fed
When I was going to graduate school in Logan, Utah, I was always looking for more work so I could have enough money for my small family. After classes each day, I took care of racehorses—feeding,...
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The Prayer of a Child
The weather has turned really hot this July, and it reminds me of the opposites we have. In the summer, we wish it was cooler, and in the winter, we wish it was warmer. Sometimes we even wish for the...
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