Did you know that Tacoma is home to the 5th largest Immigration Detention Center in the U.S.? Though the U.S. shares the longest international border in the world with Canada, just a few miles from us, it is the border to the south with Mexico that is one of today’s major issues. How is it […]
A Small Weight Lifted
At the end of November a secret Santa paid off dozens of Walmart layaway tabs in New York. In May someone paid off $10,000 in school lunch debts in Maine. In 2014 an anonymous benefactor paid off everyone’s layaway accounts ($24,000) at a Toys R Us outlet. These benefactors aren’t Bill or Melinda Gates. You […]
Family Evidence
My wife and I have a closet stacked from floor to ceiling with boxes of old photographs. Okay, so they’re not all photographs . . . there are piles of albums and boxes of slides, as well. Some albums have never been opened and some have only a few pages of photos and then blank […]
Money for Nothing and Just a Small Fee
Ellen and Jerry have been retired for some time. Jerry can still do some odd jobs for other seniors for cash. They get by. Near the end of the month they count on Pierce County Meal Sites where they can get a meal for $2.50 to $3.00. Sometimes they have to count their change to […]
The Upside and Down of Bedding
Apparently I missed the conversion from traditional bedding to millennial bedding. It seems that millennials prefer a bottom sheet and a duvet. A duvet is a cotton cover over a comforter filled with down, feathers, or synthetic fibers. Laundry is still recommended on a weekly basis, but it is quicker, faster, and cheaper with just […]
Maple Nut Goodies – Hard Candy
Not every time, but quite often when I visit the Dollar Tree on Sixth Avenue in Tacoma, I purchase a bag of Brach’s Maple Nut Goodies. Memories fade, but I seem to recall them available by the pound at Woolworth’s in downtown Tacoma in the early 1950s. They always looked interesting. Here is how Brach’s […]
Runaway Pills – Problems and Solutions
A week ago I shook a little pill out of its little bottle towards my waiting meaty paw. The pill made a break for freedom. It bounced out of my hand and left for parts unknown. I was sitting in my office chair, so the drop was less than two feet. I have carpet, so […]
Old, Unwanted, and Out of Job
Meet Acer. He and his pals did their job and now they are just unwanted heroes from yesterday. The world has passed them by. Once they could sniff out marijuana on suspects, in packages, or hidden is suitcases. They thought they were making the world a better place, but no. . . now those criminals […]
Water Witching, Divining Rods and Sewer Pipes
You can pay as much as twenty-five dollars for one. You can buy them in plastic or in copper. I use a wire coat hanger, but most people prefer a “Y” shaped tree limb. I’m talking about divining rods, or dowser rods. These tools of the water witch help locate ground water, precious stones, and […]