‘I’m one of the lucky ones’

Cancer. There’s a word that’ll get your attention. It got mine last fall when I was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. I suppose a cancer diagnosis shouldn’t shock anyone. It’s almost the norm in America.

Jim wasn’t one of the lucky ones — but you could be

My late husband Jim’s story was a little different from Tony Bender’s (above). Jim was diagnosed with esophageal cancer on July 19, 2013 and died 10 weeks later.

Little Pasture on the Prairie

I suspect any western Dakotan would acknowledge that, no matter how much we love the land, March is not our region’s most attractive time.

Little Pasture on the Prairie

I sit down to write with a nubby afghan draped around my shoulders. The deep cold of last week’s polar vortex has passed, the nights of worrying about double digit negative temperatures over, hopefully, for a while.

Stray Thoughts: Crossword

Have you ever listened to someone who is really good at something explaining that thing to someone who has no idea about that concept? There are two basic ways this plays out.

A Vaccine Story for the Ages

Last summer we heard the prediction that by the end of 2020, we would have a safe, effective vaccine to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which had only been discovered, of course, in December 2019, before causing countless deaths and mayhem in the world as we knew it. I must admit, I was skeptical.

Little Pasture on the Prairie

“During the most recent cold snap, for a brief moment, we lived in the coldest place on earth. You read that right folks, THE COLDEST PLACE ON EARTH. Colder than Alaska, colder than the wind-battered Russian steppes; colder, even, than Santa’s digs at the North Pole.

S.D. Senators comment on Trump acquittal

U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-SD): “The impeachment trial is over and former President Trump has been acquitted. My vote to acquit should not be viewed as exoneration for his conduct on January 6, 2021, or in the days and weeks leading up to it.

A look back at the COVID-19 journey

Collecting and analyzing data at Missouri Breaks for the past 13 years has turned me into a true data nerd. Working with data is not a career path I ever imagined for myself as a young person, but I’ve learned to love it. What I love about data is discovering the stories that each data set contains.

Little Pasture on the Prairie

I’m in the midst of a break up...with my cellphone. It’s not the first time either. Back when my son was a baby, and I still had a flip phone, he practiced his throwing skills on the poor thing one day. As a result I enjoyed a few blissfully unplugged weeks before I broke down and got another phone.