I'm in the woods a lot during summer. Yes, I know it's hot and sweaty. There's ticks, snakes and poison ivy to contend with. Still, summer is the best time to look for great ginseng habitat and since I'm all about restoring this wonderful herb to our property, I hike the woods in summer. As of this writing it’s mid-June. Here in the Ozarks, the ginseng plants have green fruit and some still have flowers and no fruit, some have very small fruit and are finished with flowers. The older plants have more berries than the younger ones. All of the berries at this point ...continued...

I woke up this morning hoping to hear nothing other than the occasional stirring of our guides like in mornings past. Instead I was greeted with the sounds of an angry Artic wind. We are in a full blown whiteout and cannot move. The blowing wind fills the air with snow that smashes into your face. It's best described like you see if you are driving into a snow storm on the freeway. The kind of storm that cars pull under over passes for a little reprieve. Our sturdy little tent is our life source. We have to conserve fuel because there is no predicting how long we are here. So no stov ...continued...

18 years later In February 2011 an Ecuadorian judge ordered Chevron to pay some $17 billion in fines and punitive damages over the environmental contamination in Ecuador. Water is the source of life. Without clean water we can't survive. (Emergildo Criollo, leader of the Cofan people, Ecuador) Chevron, not surprisingly, said it would appeal the ruling, calling it “illegitimate and unenforceable.” Eighteen years before, when the suit was first filed in a New York court, Chevron fought to have the jurisdiction moved to Ecuador because the ...continued...

Mom was my best friend and though I feel her presence around me often, it is always strongest during Mother’s Day. Two years ago I was in a very dark place, overwhelmed with the chaos in my life I decided it was time to work on my office at home, trying to find and create order. As I opened a file drawer to clean it out, inside was an old blue folder with papers inside. Keep or throw I wondered as I opened the folder. Inside was a copy of the Constitution of the United States, the one mom helped me memorize in 8th grade. Ne ...continued...

North Pole ...continued...

My metamorphosis from English man to Irish man took place between the ages of 10 and 14. In the early 1960s, my father brought me to my first England v Ireland rugby match in London. I was then supporting England but I didn’t mind if Ireland won because I did not want my father to be unhappy. It was a magnificent experience, one which has left an indelible impression on me. Our seats, which were just in front of the touchline, were positioned a couple of feet below the level of the pitch; as a result, whenever play came near, the players seemed like giants, except for the English r ...continued...

One day in 41, Pop & Mom bought a house at 683 W 11th which would be my home for the next 15 years. How they moved, I have no idea but I think I was in school at the time and was told to come to the new house when I got through with school. This house had more memories for me than Mt Pleasant and it had 4 bedrooms, but with Pop & Mom in one, girls in another and Bill alone in the small baby one, that left 5 of us sleeping somewhere, and I can't recall, but who cared. Later on, I had my own sleeping area - Mom had a big chest that she kept extra blankets etc. ...continued...

Blue Hole By Rolland Love The following are a couple chapters from my mystery suspense novels "Blue Hole" and a sequel "River's Edge" which have received over (300) four and five star reviews. ☂ In River's Edge I aged Dub (12) and brother Tommy (15) by 50 years and made them Grandfathers who take their Grandsons to Blue Hole where a murder occurred the last time they were there in 1949. They become a family of cold case detectives. It's not easy to solve a (50) year old murder but they prove to be up for t ...continued...

For my cultural event I went to an event called Feed My Starving Children in Libertyville, Illionois. I attended this event on Tuesday April 11th. Feed My Starving Children was a cultural event that felt like a great fit. I volunteered and had a chance to learn about different cultures and what their struggle was like in terms of children lacking food sources. We first walked into the building where we were greeted and told to sign in, grab a hair net and gloves, and to take a seat. Once everyone was seated there was a speaker who greeted us. There was a large amount of volunteeers th ...continued...

I understand why people say, “Paybacks are a bitch!” It’s tough work to pay back someone in your life who has been giving to you since you were born. You see, when I came into this world, I came in having two mothers. And it seems like these two old ladies sure know the ropes because they got me hopping around like a chicken with her head cut off paying them back big time. By the time I clean up the kitchen from breakfast dishes, and whatnot, I’m setting the table back up because these two old gals are sitting at the table again ...continued...

Six Tips for Surviving the Holiday Season When a Loved One Has Dementia Normally, Thanksgiving was my favorite holiday, a time our family gathered together at my Kansas City home. But that November, my stomach clenched at the thought of our traditional Thursday evening meal. My mother had Alzheimer’s and the holiday would be different. I felt alone but of course I wasn’t: there were 15 million family/friend caregivers helping the five million Americans who have dementia. I’d been through my initial storm of denial and grief. I felt I’d been coping we ...continued...

Watch Out For Bears Read any literature from Yellowstone National Park today and you’ll find all sorts of warnings about feeding the bears or otherwise interfering with their normal beary kinds of activities. Occasionally you may see in the news a sad story about some unwary hiker, or worse a tale of some misguided nature nut who thought he could commune with the wild beasts, who gets mauled by a bear. People know, for the most part, anyway, that they need to stay out of the bear’s comfort zone. Which is why I just can’t under ...continued...

Our blog is full of lots of posts about how Mark and I joke around to pass time on the dogsled. Not today. Today was brutal. Coldest day yet. It was at least minus 30 Fahrenheit and the wind was howling. There was very little talking other than to confirm that all of our fingers and toes were working. The ice was flat but if you rode the sled, you frooze. Our boots are rated to negative 145 degrees. It did not help. The cold brought a cease fire to the war for limited space on the sled because we had to take turns running next to the sled all day to stay warm. We covered 12 miles. It ...continued...

This story involves a number of ficticous characters most of whom you will recognize on site if you are part of the group. As I pulled out of the driveway and headed for CHWC a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) community development corporation dedicated to improving the quality of life in downtown KCK which is located in Fire Station No. 9 that’s at 2 South 14th Street in Kansas City, Kansas and was built by Willian E. Harris over 100 years ago and declared a <a href="http://en.wikip ...continued...

Arrived in Stockholm Sweden last night, resetting our body clocks is difficult. Did a gear check and discovered some things we still needed. Asked the hotel for directions to the best outdoor equipment store. Was told it was a short 35 min walk away. Got there and it was pretty much a GAP store with coats. Good news is we wandered around a bit and found the best glove store in the world. Nothing but wall to wall gloves. Heading to Longyearbyen in the morning. ...continued...