Serving the Platte Valley since 1888
Serving the Platte Valley since 1888
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“No matter what you do, someone always knew you would.” ~ Ami McKay The first column of the new reporter for the Saratoga Sun has often been one in which they introduce themselves to readers, but what happens when the new reporter is a familiar face or was a semi-regular subject of the former editor’s columns? When a new reporter would join the newspaper and introduce themselves in their first column, I would wonder what I would write if ever given the chance. Now I have...
My folks just celebrated 53 years of marriage in the beginning of December. Wow. Over 50 years with one person. Staggering. I am proud of them for being able to take the words, “For better or worse,” to the heart. Marriage isn’t easy from my experience, which wasn’t really very long, especially compared to my parents. I can say, I found being married gave me a bond to someone that really wasn’t there when we were dating or even engaged. Marriage was a shelter for me to come to...
Amid the week after Christmas, piles of wrapping in bags, shiny paper and boxes in trash with the tags. Sad little scissors sit broken and bent, from clamshell packaging--they don’t make a dent. The lights are still sparkly, still light up the town, but pretty soon work begins in taking them down. Kids run around ‘cause they’re still out of schools, having a good old time while acting the fools. But the tots are forlorn from here to Hoboken, Christmas is gone and their new toys are broken. Uncles and Aunts and those other...
The holiday Season is upon us and soon a large portion of us will be traveling. That means driving, airplanes, busses and the like. It also means hotels. Mini Bars (not the kind you are thinking of) Hotels are usually a checkpoint in your vacation. You have traveled a bit, then you get to stop, shower and shave before you continue your journey. Anyway, a fixture at most any hotel or motel is tiny soap. There are tiny shampoos and tiny conditioners too. The tiny soaps I find fun. The tiny hair products not as much so. The...
The holiday season has started. This past Thanksgiving, I realized I was enjoying this holiday again. It has taken me four years, which is about the same time I stopped living overseas. Thanksgiving was probably the toughest holiday to celebrate for many reasons when I lived out of the country. When I had a restaurant in Taiwan, because we marketed as American style cuisine, we were packed during this time. It was all hands on deck for two-to-possibly-three seatings, serving a couple hundred dinners. That sort of volume had m...
There is a guy out there who, according to western legend, puts people to sleep by sprinkling magical sand onto people’s eyes. That guy is the Sandman. He even has a famous song: “Mr. Sandman.” Yeah, well, the Sandman needs to hire some Sandlings, because he has apparently fallen asleep on the job. Some soporific servants might be a good thing. He probably doesn’t want to add anyone though. I hear Sleep Stewards Local 101 is a tough union. Of course, all this may be tied to the supernatural sedative sand shortage of ’16. Wh...
I have been immersing myself in the world of spirits lately. Not the Halloween ghostie spirit type, but the culture of alcohol. A project I am working on has me coming across bits of info I have found interesting on the consumption of spirits. A lot of what I have come across, is mostly historical and not so relevant to modern times. Still, more than once when looking through my books—I have over 200 books on bartending, spirits and recipes published before 1930’s and another 500 or so from the decades after—I find mysel...
You may have noticed there are quite a few headlines on the internet designed purely to lure you into clicking on them. These story titles, dubbed “clickbait,” are designed to pique your curiosity and quite often have absolutely nothing to do with the story that comes up when you get there. Kinda like my headline here. Sorry. Not really. ; ) Hey look, I even used an emoji in one of my columns! Anyway … As much as I like to write good headlines that actually have something to do with —and are descriptive of—the stories t...
I commute 40 miles one way every day I work at the Saratoga Sun. My job before had me going back and forth from Laramie. That means I have been exposed to a fair amount of driving in Wyoming, most of it in Carbon County, just going to work There are elements of being on the road in Wyoming I find so much better than any place I have ever lived and other facets that scare the hell of out me when I am driving. The Wildlife Might as well start off with my biggest fear being on...
Here it is again. National Flatulence Day. In observance, I ate beans all day yesterday. You should see the look on my coworkers faces—I am worried they might stick like that. Okay, you got me. There is no specific National Flatulence Day. I celebrate it year-round anyway. Too much information? Sorry. Like most people with adolescent-level minds, I think fart jokes are funny. But there are a “butt-load” of National Days. I took a look at nationaldaycalendar.com where there are clickable icons for every month. Once you click...
The Saratoga Town Council is currently reviewing the Planned Unit Development (PUD) proposal submitted by the Saratoga Planning Commission. This plan is designed to allow more flexibility and creativity in site planning. The PUD also streamlines the development process for mixed usages and/or higher allowable densities. Current zoning regulations do not allow flexibility in site planning and limit what can be built on a site. With the PUD a plot of land can be residential, commercial, light industrial and/or heavy industrial...
Editor, Recently, out of rather immense frustration, I addressed the Saratoga Town Council concerning the scourge of methamphetamine addiction/use and attendant crime in this community. Although the Police Department inferred my criticisms to mean that my complaints were directed specifically at that department, this was not my intention. However, after speaking with the police chief, I at least understood his position, agreeing in part and disagreeing in part. Perhaps most significantly, I was impressed with the passion our...
I grew up hearing that “real men don’t cry.” What a load of crap. Fortunately, I never heard this kind of drivel from my parents. But parents aren’t the only influence in someone’s life. Shedding tears helps you recognize your feelings and deal with them. I have also read that crying helps your body regain an equilibrium by shedding toxins. According to the article “Cry it out: 6 Surprising Health Benefits of shedding a Few Tears” found on medicaldaily.com, crying releases toxins and stress hormones. Tears also kill bacteria...