January 2023

Martha Hanson This brunch (or anytime) dish is no-fuss & delicious! Ingredients - 12 oz. bulk spicy pork sausage - 5 cups frozen southern-style hash brown potatoes (from 32 oz.

I had a piece all written up to share with you, and then school happened today and I decided to switch gears. Sometimes when the children are asking questions or discussing certain topics, I take that opportunity to build a class conversation around it. It can be difficult for the chronic planner in me to be veered off-course, but keeping the kids’ attention and making school fun is much more important. Today’s circle time discussion was based on the chatter I heard at arrival time. I would like to share some of our conversation with you now.

Editor’s note: I dare ya’ to find where fiction leaves off and fact picks up the slack. Steve Wilson’s entertaining vaccine clearance sale does not detract from his serious commitment to citizen science in action all for the love of birds.

In my years of parish ministry I always tried to be early and get things done when they were due. If my weekly sermon was not completed in its final form by Thursday morning it was “stop the world” until it was done. That being said, I am under a little added pressure as it is early Friday afternoon and this is my second attempt at this article. I completed my first but then the events of the past gave me cause to rethink what I would like to share with you. Early one morning a few years ago at about 2:00 a.m. we get a call. “David is okay,” were the first words I heard. My daughter-in-law was calling, I was thinking as I looked at the caller id. “We are looking for some input as to what we should do with Dezy (their 8 year old boxer dog). David then gets on the phone and relates a detailed account of the events leading up to their after midnight visit to the emergency vet. After taking blood tests and x-rays, Dezy is diagnosed with a rapidly growing large tumor between the heart and the stomach that may be attached to the heart. The vet gave her about two months to live. The question becomes, “Do we take her home and keep her for two painful, miserable months or do we give thanks, say our final good byes and put her down?”