Years ago, someone showed me an “aging test.” What you do is grab the loose skin on the top of your hand and pinch it together. Then you release the skin and watch to see how fast it recovers its original position. The slower it goes back, the further along in the aging process you have ...

I had a conversation this last week with a friend which brought up an interesting question or two. She mentioned that sometimes she and her husband see people do things or say things that makes them think, “Those people seem really weird.” Then, they pause and ask themselves these ...

With luck, you’re reading this on Independence Day eve. It’s the week of the 4th of July – Independence Day. Sanpete and the rest of the country will be celebrating the 248rd anniversary of the birthday of America. There will be celebrations in several Sanpete communities. I know that ...

Where were you last Friday evening at about 6:45 p.m.? I needed you. The pharmacy was about to close at Walmart, and there I stood patting my pockets – no wallet, no money, no acceptance of “Apple Pay” and accompanied by a purse-less wife. Surely someone I knew would walk by and I’d be ...

I think that there are annoying people in everyone’s life. It’s not the same people for everyone. You might not even notice the guy who eats with his mouth open who annoys me. The lady who clacks her dentures might be okay to me, but she might drive you bonkers. I have several habits which ...

I had kind of a bad day last Tuesday. It started with dropping off Archer, the wonder Sheltie dog, at the “Animal Hospital” in Gunnison. He was scheduled for surgery. He was having a big lipoma removed, along with another smaller bump. If you don’t know what a lipoma is, then you’re ...

Those of you who are semi-regular readers of “Inside Sanpete” know that I’ve recently been on a road trip. Repeats of columns were run the last two weeks. I thought they were pretty good. But, now, I’m not so sure. I had a woman wag her finger at me a few days ago while giving me the ...

(Merrill didn’t get back from his road-trip vacation in time for the column deadline. Here’s a rerun which includes one of his favorite little stories.) I’ve been around a few people who have been doing some traveling lately. My youngest son and his wife just got back from an Eastern ...

(Merrill is on vacation – a road trip. We're running a past favorite (aren’t they all favorites?) column of his from the Summer of 2010) When I was a kid we often drove in the night when we were going to California. In the early days, we didn’t have air conditioning and it made the ride ...

This past Sunday, I had a conversation with some people in a church meeting. I brought up the point that some religious concepts are like magic in a way. We don’t know how some religious events (miracles) or concepts work, but we know they happen. Years ago, in 1999, I found myself in Las ...