“If you don’t know history, then you don’t know anything. You are a leaf that doesn’t know it is part of a tree” (Michael Crichton). I’ve always been one to dwell on memories. Ask Ryan about some of my family get togethers–it’s full of “do you remember when Chelsea…” or “that was just like that time when Ashleigh…” [...]
People fast for lots of reasons: health, religion, weight loss. Moses and Jesus both fasted for 40 days. I decided to try a fast for 3 days, but not what you think of as a typical fast. Why? Curiosity. To see if I had the willpower to carry it through. But mainly to cleanse my body [...]
Happy birthday, Kansas! Kansas joined the Union as a free state during the Civil War on January 29, 1861. Originally home to the Kansa tribe, the land was claimed mostly by the Louisiana purchase. Settlers began pouring into the state in 1854 until now we have a population of 2.7 million people. Kansas has such a rich [...]
This year we spent Independence Day with our great friends Tristan & Leslie Block and Leslie’s family in Windom, Kansas. They live on a farm and opened up their implement shed for a huge pot luck meal for family, friends, and neighbors: hamburgers made from the beef of one of their own cows, deviled eggs, [...]
I recently read an article in the NY Times about how Americans travel to other states or other countries, learning about the history and landmarks of other places, and yet don’t even know their own local areas. The article encouraged the readers to get out and explore their own area before spending lots of money [...]
Today, January 29th, our beautiful state Kansas turns 149 years old. Growing up I was surrounded by Kansas history and spent a lot of time at the Kansas Museum of History volunteering in the gift shop with Grandma Betty. I’m pretty sure that’s where our tradition of making Kansas Day cookies started. Each year Grandma [...]
For several weeks now we’ve been hearing a familiar but unknown bird call. When we would hear it call we’d try to trace the sound back to the source, but with no luck. We searched many web sites to get a picture of possible birds and an audio file of their calls. We had a couple [...]