(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 ...

Last Friday, at 2:30 pm, I was seated in Badger Stadium at Snow College. I was occupying the absolute highest and the furthest south seat in the place. Actually, at that point in time, I wasn’t seated. I was standing, as directed, in honor of the procession of Snow College administrators, ...

Have you ever had to make a choice between two routes while on a trip? Have you ever been distracted? Have you put something off that you’d like to do and then circumstances sent you a different direction? Of course, you have. We all have been in those situations. In my ongoing late-night ...

I had a good friend who professed agnosticism or agnostitarianism or however you want to say it. It’s the school of thought that constitutes what an agnostic believes or disbelieves. As I understand it, an agnostic differs from an atheist in that the agnostic’s position is that knowledge of ...

Backyards are an important part of life in Sanpete. Many of us spend significant amounts of time in that “private park” behind our homes. Many Sanpeters live out in the country away from structured towns. Their entire property is like a backyard. Backyard space is more than a “park” or ...

Some of you remember the singer and actress Judy Garland. Some would recall that she played the part of Dorothy in the “Wizard of Oz” movie and sang “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” Judy also sang a song titled “Get Happy.” The first verse goes like this: “Forget your troubles, ...

How often do you hear someone say, “That’s a pain in the butt?” In some newspapers, you might see that part of the anatomy termed differently in a column like this. And I don’t mean “pain in the rear.” But this column attempts to have high standards of civility and restraint. As ...

(A man at a baseball game wondered why the ball kept getting bigger and bigger. And then, it hit him!) Play Ball! Tomorrow, March 28, 2024 is what is known as “Opening Day” in Major League Baseball. All 30 teams will be in action. The Dodgers and the Padres played a couple of games in ...