Kristi Noem jolted me from political complacency Ever since Stew and I moved twenty years ago to a small ranch about a thousand miles south from the U.S. border, our reaction to political news from home has gradually morphed from outrage to resignation, or even worse, complacency. The absurd has become ho-hum. Plans to be …
Did someone say "Let it snow"? Yesterday morning we woke up to dire news that New York City was about to be pummeled by a "beastly bomb cyclone causing widespread blizzard conditions," according to a hyperventilating copywriter at CNN. Twenty inches of snow was expected in Central Park! Authorities were supposed to ban most travel …
The significance of Bad Bunny's Halftime show Bad Bunny is a straight but gay-friendly Puerto Rican megastar, whose jumping and hips-and-butt gyrations would have made Elvis look arthritic. He's also loudly pro-immigrant rights and will do his halftime Super Bowl show in Spanish—a combination that has already set the MAGA crowd's hair on fire. Sports …
Nearing the end his life, he's not worried about eternity More than sixteen years ago, when we had bought the land but not yet begun construction, a small stray dog showed up at the gate merrily wagging his tail as if we were all old friends. We started to feed him each morning and for …
New Takes on An Age-old story There have been countless iterations of the story of the birth Jesus Christ since it occurred more than two thousand years ago, I suspect to account for the many logical loose ends in the narrative: An unmarried teenage girl named Mary becomes pregnant by the Holy Spirit and gives …
A story about how a best laid plan went awry On Saturday morning, animated chirping came from under a plastic tarp that covered a pile of firewood. Curiosity then led Stew to check the source and discover one of our hens guarding a group of seven chicks, one of them hatched so recently its plumage …
Three days at the mercy of internet crooks Not even twenty-four hours after returning from Peru, I received a strange phone call that should have been a red flag but which I ignored because of either jet lag, stupidity or both. I didn't recognize the caller's Spanish accent, dripping with fake concern and assumed he …
A weekend when Everyday Worries Floated away Every day we're pelted with so much alarming news—political wars, dire predictions and yesterday, even a report of a tsunami—that you are left feeling like someone caught bare-assed in a hailstorm. Some friends have concocted escape mechanisms, most commonly going on a "news fast," or in my case, …
We'll take the rain no matter what it smells like "Petrichor" is one of those five-dollar words that you might fling at someone you are trying to impress, or put off, at a church picnic. It describes the earthy, pleasant smell when rain dampens dry soil. This morning on the way to the coop to …
What we've worn, never to be worn again When Stew and I moved down from Chicago some twenty years ago, the packing began in an orderly fashion, boxes clearly labeled and sealed—books, tools, kitchen utensils and such—but we were nowhere finished when the crew from United Van Lines showed up. The pace of the packing …
El Rancho Santa Clara 